
Class 

Book 

Copyright}) . 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 




E. G. SEWBLL. 



GOSPEL LESSONS 



AND 



LIFE HISTORY. 



By 

E. G. SEWELL, 

COEDITOR OF THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE. 



[< The entrance of thy words giveth light." 
(Ps. 119:130.) 



nashville, tenn.: 

McQuiijdy Printing Company. 

1908. 



h\ 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS} 
I wo Uooies rteteivtf* 

OCT 12 1^8 



Copyright, 1908, 

BY 

E. G. SEWELL. 



.095 Si 



CONTENTS. 



Chapter I. 
The Bible What It Claims to Be 1 

Chapter II. 
The New Testament: Its Great Importance to Us.... 13 

Chapter III. 
Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth • 24 

Chapter IV. 

The Gospel of Christ: What Is It? 40 

Chapter V. 
Faith: What Is It, How Does It Come, and What 
Does It Do? 51 

Chapter VI. 
Repentance 63 

Chapter VII. 
Baptism: What Is It? 75 

Chapter VIII. 

Why Should People Be Baptized? 88 

Chapter IX. 

Evidence of Pardon and of Continued Acceptance 
With God 100 

Chapter X. 

How Does the Holy Spirit Enlighten People? 115 

Chapter XI. 

How the Spirit of God Makes Christians 128 

(iii) 



iv Contents. 

Chapter XII. 
Sufficiency and Power of the Word of God 141 

Chapter XIII. 
Conversion of Saul of Tarsus 156 

Chapter XIV. 

Conversion of Lydia and Her Household 171 

Chapter XV. 
The Christian Life 183 

Chapter XVI. 

Other Items in the Christian Life 198 

Chapter XVII. 
The Christian Life a Race 214 

Chapter XVIII. 

Examples from the Jewish People 229 

Chapter XIX. 

Unauthorized and Ruinous Opinions 245 

Chapter XX. 

Woodland Street Christian Church 261 

Chapter XXI. 

More About the Preachers and the Division of Wood- 
land Street Church 276 

Chapter XXII. 

Closing Chapter on Woodland Street Church 290 

Chapter XXIII. 
My Early Life ar.d Education 305 

Chapter XXIV. 

Religious Teaching and Practice in My Younger Days. 322 



TOPIC INDEX. 



(This does not purport to be exhaustive as to details, but will assist the 
reader in finding important subjects.) 

Abraham's faith , : 214, 215 

obedience 118 

Acts of Apostles, contents of 35-37 

Arbitrary action of elders 277-279 

Baptism, figurative allusions to 84 

history of 75-84,90-93 

last step of obedience 44, 97, 166 

necessity for 45, 93-95, 166-168 

not a duty of Christians 28 

of Jesus 15, 16, 82, 98 

Besetting sins 217, 218 

Bible account of creation 1, 143, 144 

agreement of parts of 6 

as a comfort and stay 338 

fairness of 10, 1 1 

history in the 8 

noble characters in 9 

Burritt College, course at 308-315 

" Christian," the name 198-200 

Christian growth, how attained 200-203 

Christians not lawmakers as to work and worship. 223,224 

Church, the, one body 255 

Civilization and Christianity 3, 4, 20 

Contribution, teaching on 187, 188 

Conversion, mistaken views on 32,100,115,126,139 

easy to understand 37, 61, 123, 156 

Corinth, church of, rebuked 301-303 

David's error in using human wisdom 282-284 

Dead faith 57 

Denominational creeds, etc 254-256 

Disbelief in God, reason for 3, 4 

results of 248-250 

Early church, worship in 184, 186, 192 

Education in early days in Tennessee 306, 307 

" Eis,'I proper meaning of 56, 58 

(v) 



vi Topic Index. 

Encouragement to young men 311,314,319,336,337 

Faith and opinion 245, 246 

of Abraham led to obedience 52 

of Noah, Lot, and others 52, 59, 116 

origin, of 53 

perfected by obedience 52-61 

Feelings not a safe guide 100-104, 126 

Franklin College, course at 315-319 

Giddens, R. M., work of, in Nashville 

276-281, 285-288, 291-294, 298 

" Golden Rule " of Jesus and others compared. ... 21 

Good conscience does not save 157-159 

Gospel of Christ, meaning of term 40 

preached on Pentecost 46-49 

the power of God unto salvation 62 

what it really embraces 42 

" Gospels," four, proved to be true 18, 19 

purpose of ' 33 

Harmony depends on loyalty 285,291,292,293 

" Heart," meaning of 174, 175 

History in Bible 8 

fairness of 10 

Human societies as opinions 256-260, 280-285 

Jesus as a teacher ' 21 

as our Exemplar 224-226 

baptism of, as obedience 15,82,94 

boyhood obedience of 15 

history of, proved to be true 18 

parables of 21, 22 

temptation of 150-152 

Job's patience 221, 222 

John's baptism 80, 81, 89-92 

preaching 121, 149, 150 

Joshua's faithfulness 230-233 

Justification by faith 52-61, 106-108 

Knowledge, required 211 

Loos, W. J., work of, in Nashville 266-274 

Lord's Supper as a duty 189-192 

Mourning not repentance 63-71 

Myhr, A. I., and his work 285-289, 290, 294, 300 

New Testament, compared with Old 13, 14 

importance of 13, 22 

three divisions of 33-38 

Naaman healed 181, 182 

Noah and his preaching 116,117,144 

" Nonessentials " in religion 89, 90-93 

Obedience as a principle . 94-98, 113, 145, 146, 227 



Topic Index. vii 

Old Testament characters, faith of 52-54 

conversion not developed in 32 

parts of, and purpose of each 30-33 

Old-time revivals 324-325 

Pardon, after obedience 107, 108, 183 

second law of 108-112 

conditions of 43-46,137-140,180 

always the same 49, 62 

in various passages 43-49 

Patience as a duty .- 212, 220-223 

of Job 221, 222 

Peace, life of, required \ 205, 206 

Peculiar indictment, a 327 

Pentecost, conversions on day of " 46-50 

Holy Spirit given on 130-139 

Pharisees, not handling aright the word 25,26 

Philip at Samaria • 59 

preaches to the eunuch 61, 83, 84 

Prayer as a Christian duty 192-196 

in conversion, place of 27-29 

Prophecies 'concerning Christ, agreement of 7 

Prophecy of Isaiah concerning Christ, significance 

of 19,20 

Repentance illustrated 65-70 

not before faith 72 

Restrictive clause in church deed 271, 272 

Separation from error, duty of 296, 301-304 

Sermon on the Mount, inspired with divine power 17, 122 

Seweil family excluded by Baptists -. . . 326-328 

loyal to the word 333-336 

Simon the sorcerer, sin of 109-111 

Spirit of Christ requires loyalty 295, 296 

" Stockton's Valley Association " 322, 323 

Thrilling drive, a 312 

Unity, how attained . 186 

Universalism, dangers from 252, 253 

is it true? 251,252 

Uzza and his error 158, 159 

" Virtue," or courage, required 209-211 

Word, rightly dividing, importance of 24, 29 

meaning of . . '. 27 

New Testament, contents and purpose of. . 33-38 

Old Testament, contents and purpose of . . . 30-33 

Works, salvation by 118, 119 



INTRODUCTION. 



We send forth this volume with but one single 
claim in its behalf, and that is that its teaching is 
in harmony with the word of God. It must stand 
or fall upon its merits. If in harmony with God's 
word, it will stand the ordeal of criticism while 
time may last. If not in harmony with that word, 
it will fail, and ought to fail. 

The quotations of scripture made in it are partly 
from the Authorized Version and partly from the 
American Standard Revised. Where there are de- 
cided differences, attention is generally called to the 
difference. Nineteen of the twenty-four chapters 
are purely on Bible themes, while the other five 
chapters are historical. The subjects of conversion 
and of the Christian life are presented at some 
length. 

If the brethren are satisfied that the teaching is 
scriptural and calculated to do good, we hope they 
will aid us in its circulation and assist us in putting 
it into the hands of those who may be most bene- 
fited by reading it. We shall not likely stay here 
to work personally much longer; so we put out 
this volume, hoping it may be a means of accom- 
plishing good when this tongue and pen shall work 
no more. E. G. SEWELL. 

(viii) 



CHAPTER I. 



The Bible What It Claims to Be. 



The word " Bible " is of Greek origin — " Biblos " 
meaning " The Book." It is found in the New Tes- 
tament, as that is the part of the book originally 
written in Greek. The first sentence in the New 
Testament is : " The book of the generation of Je- 
sus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham." 
Then the genealogy of Christ is given as recorded 
in the Old Testament, from Abraham down to his 
mother, Mary, in the first chapter of Matthew. The 
third chapter of Luke gives the genealogy from 
Mary back to Adam, " the son of God." Thus the 
Bible, traces the origin of the human race back to 
Adam, which is the only reasonable account ever 
given of the origin of man. All other efforts to ac- 
count for the existence of man and of the world 
are fabulous as compared with the Bible. The first 
sentence Moses wrote in his part of the Bible was : 
" In the beginning God created the heaven and the 
earth." This is one of the sublimest sentences he 
ever wrote. It unravels and forever settles the 
mysterious question of the origin of the physical 
universe. It puts to shame all the mythological 
claims as to the origin of things, and puts it upon 
a basis at once plausible and believable. It intro- 
duces God as creating the universe, without a word 
to prove that God is or that he was able to do so 
much. To have begun with arguments as to the 

(1) 



2 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

existence of God or his ability to create a universe 
would have been to create doubts on both these mo- 
mentous questions ; but to put it as it is, is God- 
like in its length and breadth and depth and height. 
We know the universe exists. But whence came 
it? What Moses said in the first sentence of his 
five books is the only unquestionable answer ever 
given. Admitting that God exists, there can be no 
question of his ability to create the heaven and the 
earth; and that he does exist is abundantly evi- 
denced by the actual existence of the universe we 
see all about us. In all the nearly six thousand 
years the earth and man have existed, not a ray of 
light has reached us as to their origin, .except 
through Moses. If we do not admit that God ex- 
ists, the origin of the universe and of ourselves is 
wrapped in impenetrable darkness, and will so re- 
main. There is no light to come from any other 
source on these matters. Our eyes are closed, as 
by blind fate, and will remain SO' unless we admit 
that God is. If we admit that, the origin of the 
world and of man is as plain as any problem that 
exists. The man that rejects the existence of God 
forever shuts himself out from any possible light 
as to his origin or destiny. Denying the existence 
of God is an utter negation of all light and of ev- 
ery avenue of information as to the origin of things. 
To deny that God is, is to deny that the earth, the 
heavens, or man were created. There could be no 
creation without a creator, and no design in any- 
thing without a designer. The universe is a dark 
blank, with the idea that there is no God, and no 
possibility for light on anything that exists. The 
man that shuts out the idea that God is, shrivels 



The Bible What It Claims to Be. 3 

himself up into a bundle of utter and hopeless ig- 
norance, from which it is impossible for him to ex- 
tricate himself. No man that denies the existence 
of God can possibly prove that he is anything more 
than a mere animal or that there is any more for 
him after this life than there is for a parrot. All 
that we know about the difference between man 
and the beasts of earth is learned from the Bible, 
which purports to be a revelation from God. But 
if there be no God, the Bible is a fraud ; there ex- 
ists no supreme Being to reveal anything. 

But why does any man say there is no God? 
Does that idea elevate any one? Does it make 
anybody wiser or better or happier? Does it 
make better citizens, better homes, better husbands 
or wives? Look at the heathen world, where there 
is no knowledge of God. Among them there is no 
light, no civilization, no true honor, virtue, or sense 
of justice. With them might makes right. They 
fear their laws and the officials that execute them, 
and fear those who have more physical power and 
authority than themselves. Beyond this there is 
nothing to restrain them. Their own fleshly im- 
pulses, desires, and aspirations are the guides as 
to what they do. An enlightened and trained con- 
science by scriptural instruction is wholly unknown 
among the heathen. They have neither apprecia- 
tion nor regard for the rights of others. Their own 
will and wish are their law, unless restrained by 
laws and forces they dare not violate. It is true, 
a few heathen nations have opened their doors to 
civilized influences and have caught some better 
ideas by contact with civilized people. But not so 
where no trace of Bible civilization has ever gone. 



4 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

• 

It is a matter of historical fact that where Bible 
teaching has never gone there is no civilization, no 
social life that is worth the name, nor any of those 
tender offices that so sweeten life where Bible civ- 
ilization reigns in the hearts and lives of the peo- 
ple; and if the Bible were all dropped out and all its 
inspired teaching obliterated, this dark and rugged 
sort of heathen life would soon be the condition of 
the whole world. Is this state of things something 
to be desired, instead of Christian civilization and 
that purity of heart and life that abound in Chris- 
tian lands to-day? 

But this is only a part of what is lost by deny- 
ing the existence of God and discarding the Bi- 
ble. Every incentive that appeals to the heart for 
a pure and holy life goes with the departure of 
the Bible and the Christian religion. The grosser 
passions become the ruling incentives, and, after 
a coarse and degraded life, men die and disap- 
pear like beasts, to know and be known no more. 
Is this the sort of prospect that inspires men in 
this Bible land to deny the existence of God 
and to trample the light of his truth under foot? 
Such is the only prospect and outcome for men 
when they deny the existence of God and the truth 
of the Book of all books. This is all any man can 
look for that denies the existence of a supreme Be- 
ing that created man and the universe. It cannot 
be that any sane man would prefer this to the grand 
and beautiful life and glorious existence hereafter 
of a faithful Christian. There is but one thing im- 
aginable that could induce any man in a land of 
Bibles and of the Christian religion to do such a 
thing, and that would be to avoid submission to 



The Bible What It Claims to Be. 5 

the restraining influences of the word of God, and 
to have excuse for free and full indulgence of the 
flesh and to lead a sordid life. . This is done, too, 
at the awful risk of being mistaken about the ex- 
istence of God and of being cast into hell at last 
with all the nations that forget God. This verifies 
the statement of Holy Writ that " the fool hath said 
in his heart, There is no God." Surely none other, 
in view of all the Bible reveals and all it promises 
to the pure and holy, could be so rash as to do such 
a thing. 

But to those that believe in God and regard the 
Bible as a revelation from him, it is the most won- 
derful book ever written. It unlocks the great 
storehouse of God's great wisdom ancl knowledge, 
and gives in unmistakable words the origin of the 
physical universe and the origin of man, who, in 
the language of God's Book, is " fearfully and won- 
derfully made." It informs us of the beginning of 
time and of its terrific end, and all the reliable his- 
tory we have of this world and of the generations 
of men for over three thousand years. It gives us 
the only tangible account of the flood extant in all 
the world, and why it was brought, which was the 
great sinfulness, of the human race. 

The Bible is the channel, and the only channel, 
through which God speaks to man, and by it he 
will judge the world at the last day. " God, who 
at sundry times and in divers manners spake in 
times past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath 
in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom 
he hath appointed heir of all things, by whoth also 
he made the worlds." (Heb. 1 : 1, 2.) He spoke 
to the Jewish people through Moses and the proph- 



6 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

ets ; but the world was about twenty-five hundred 
years old when Moses wrote. Although it was so 
long after creation before any part of the Bible had 
been written, yet the part which Moses wrote is 
perhaps the oldest written document extant at the 
present time. The other parts of the Old Testa- 
ment were written from time to time till about 
four hundred years before the Christian era. So the 
whole Bible was completed in a little more than 
fifteen hundred years. 

One of the great wonders of this Book, and espe- 
cially the Old Testament, is that it was written in 
parts, and by different men, so far apart in time 
that there was no possible chance for any collusion 
or plotting together as to what should be written 
so as to form an agreement to make no contradic- 
tion in different parts, and yet to make all the dif- 
ferent parts harmonize. Yet it is a fact that these 
writers do harmonize perfectly as to the matters 
about which they wrote. Neither as to historical fact 
nor as to teaching is there any material or irrecon- 
cilable conflict. Such a thing would be impossible 
by uninspired men. But those writers were guided 
by an unseen and all-wise Power, which guided 
them infallibly into the truth in what they wrote, 
showing that all these writers were guided by the 
same hand, and that it was a divine hand. This 
one feature of the Bible is enough to prove it di- 
vine. It would be a miracle as great as the crea- 
tion of a world for as many writers as were en- 
gaged on the Bible, in different ages, in different 
sections of the country, and on different themes 
pertaining to the will of God and the duties of men, 
to stand without conflict in what they wrote. 



The Bible What It Claims to Be. 7 

There were many prophecies written concerning 
the Messiah and what he should accomplish, so dif- 
ferently expressed that, until fulfilled, they would 
have seemed to be spoken of different personages 
§nd different events. Moses records prophecies 
made to Abraham, differently expressed, thus : " In 
thee shall all families of the earth be blessed," and, 
" In thy seed shall all nations of the earth be 
blessed." Then Moses himself uttered a prophecy 
concerning the Savior that was so different from 
those given to Abraham that they could hardly have 
been recognized as referring to the same person : 
" The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a 
Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like 
unto me ; unto him ye shall hearken. ... I 
will raise them up a Prophet from among their 
brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in 
his mouth ; and he shall speak unto them all that 
I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, 
that whosoever will not hearken unto my words 
which he shall speak in my name, I will require it 
of him." (Deut. 18: 15-19.) These prophecies 
seemed to speak of different persons and of differ- 
ent things, and before Christ came could not have 
been identified as referring to precisely the same 
person and the same event. But since Christ came, 
it can easily be understood that all those prophecies 
were completely fulfilled in him, and not a jar or 
discord between them. These things are interest- 
ing to study and wonderfully satisfactory as evi- 
dences of the divine origin of the precious words 
of eternal truth. If the Old Testament had been 
written by uninspired men, they would never have 
thought of attempting to utter any such prophecies ; 



8 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

they could not have known anything about such 
a Person or such a Teacher of the word of God as 
Jesus was. Hence nothing of the sort could pos- 
sibly have been written by uninspired men. How 
wonderfully the Book of God is bolstered up by its 
own evidences of its divine origin ! The more one 
studies the different parts of the Bible and the ages 
in which it was written, and the wonderful instruc- 
tion therein given, the more thoroughly will he be 
convinced of its inspiration. 

The Old Testament gives the ancestry of the 
Messiah and the preparation of the world for his 
advent into it, besides volumes. of the most inter- 
esting history the world ever read. In the mean- 
time it shows that mortality, death, and all the suf- 
ferings of disease and decay in man were brought 
on by his own sins ; that wars, pestilences, famines, 
blights, and all sorts of disasters to crops and to 
human life generally were brought on in the same 
way ; that Abraham was called out from his country 
and kindred and from their idolatry, that he might 
be trained into faithful service to God, become the 
father of the Jewish nation and the great ancestor 
of the Messiah, the Savior of sinners. Very largely 
the Old Testament is filled up with the history of 
the Jewish people, their variegated lives all spotted 
and blurred with sin, with chastisements such as 
few people of this world have ever suffered. Yet 
part of their history shows that the Jews were the 
best and most enlightened people the world ever 
saw till the Christian religion began its great " work 
of faith and labor of love." The Bible has the 
greatest variety of history that was ever written — 
history of wars, with all their calamities and suffer- 



The Bible What It Claims to Be. 9 

ings ; the history of peace and prosperity ; the his- 
tory of contentment and happiness such as no na- 
tion of the world enjoyed in those times, except the 
Jews. Their history shows vividly the hand of God 
among them, both in their calamities and in their 
goodness and uprightness, in their elevation of heart 
and life above all the nations that surrounded them 
in those olden times. 

The Jewish people during the fluctuations of their 
history produced many of the noblest and best men 
the people of those countries and times ever saw, 
while they also produced many of the most wicked 
and corrupt men known in any country round about 
them. The Jews were a most wonderful and re- 
markable people. When they were good, they 
showed the power of God's word, even under the 
most unfavorable circumstances, to elevate people 
as "nothing else under the heavens could do. When 
they were bad, they showed how the superior en- 
lightenment of God's word can be turned into 
much greater evil than among nations that did not 
enjoy the light of God's truth. These things show 
the hand of God — show an elevation and civiliza- 
tion that no other nation of those times could pos- 
sibly reach ; proving beyond a peradventure the su- 
periority of the word and laws of God over man's 
wisdom and laws, and that the Old Testament is 
therefore from God, and that his word even then 
could do for men that would yield their hearts and 
lives to its divine instruction, more than all the wis- 
dom of this world combined. Among the good men 
of the Jewish nation, we mention such men as Abra- 
ham (the father of those people), Moses, Caleb and 
Joshua, Gideon and Samuel; among the kings, 



io Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

David, Hezekiah, and Josiah ; among the prophets, 
Elijah and Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Daniel. 
There is no record to show that nations outside of 
the Jews ever produced any such men. In fact, the 
best evidence of the truth of the Bible to be found 
in all this world is the Bible itself. The tree is 
known by the fruit it bears. 

Another interesting feature of the Bible along 
the line of the evidence of its inspiration is the per- 
fect fairness and impartiality in which it represents 
the dealings of God with men. The Bible gives 
historical accounts of God's dealings with all sorts 
of men — the high and the low, the rich and the 
poor, the bond and free, from the poorest servant 
to the grandest hero, with not a shade of partiality 
shown toward any. When the masses of Israel, 
from the poorest to the richest, rebelled against 
God in refusing to go up and possess the land of 
Canaan, the Lord dealt with all precisely alike. 
He doomed every one to the very same fate. He 
dealt with all according to their deeds. They were 
all rebels against him alike, and he passed the same 
sentence on all. All the rebels were to wander in 
the same wilderness till they should die. Forty 
years, full time to bring the death of all the rebels, 
were allotted as the time. They wandered the time 
out, and all the rebels of every grade and class were 
dead. Caleb and Joshua, who did not sin, and the 
young, who had not engaged in the rebellion, were 
all preserved and all permitted to enter the prom- 
ised land. The shrewdest infidel in the world can- 
not see a shadow of difference or partiality in the 
case of a single one of these rebels. They all went 
down under the same sentence. Moses and Aaron 



The Bible What It Claims to Be. n 

were among the innocent when the sentence was 
passed. Moses was still their great leader, their 
hero, and Aaron the high priest. The weary years 
of this sad wandering wore on, while the rebellious 
ones were rapidly dropping out, until the forty 
years were drawing toward their close, Moses still 
a great and good man. Trouble after trouble had 
come ; Moses and Aaron still held to their integ- 
rity. But one sad occasion came for them. A 
great uprising came from the people on account 
of having no water to drink, and they raised a 
great murmuring against Moses and Aaron as they 
were thus suffering from thirst. Moses and Aaron 
went to the Lord about the matter, and he gave 
them specific directions what to do to obtain water 
for the people. They started out all right to obey 
these commands, but committed some bad errors 
before they got through. They left out one plain, 
positive command, and added two items God had not 
commanded; and God, on account of these things, 
denied them the privilege of leading the people 
into the land he had promised them, and doomed 
both these men to die outside of that goodly land. 
Thus these great leaders were punished for their 
sins just as the poorest of the host they led. There 
never was any partiality with God in dealing with 
men. God was indeed no respecter of persons ; he 
was a respecter of characters, but not of persons. 
Xo such impartiality can be found among any of 
the heathen kings or potentates the world ever saw. 
Men were judged by their deeds, not by their 
wealth, nor by their grade or standing among men. 
This is a principle so far above what humanity un- 
aided bv revelation has ever done that it shows be- 



12 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

yond a peradventure that the God of the Bible is 
just the being it represents him to be, and that he 
is the author of that most wonderful volume. No 
wisdom ever belonged to uninspired man that could 
produce such a book as the Bible, and no mere 
earthly ruler ever dealt with men upon the princi- 
ples the God of the Bible has always done. 

We may, therefore, be fully assured when we read 
the pages of this, the most remarkable book in all 
the world, that it is of divine origin, and that the 
God it represents is the prime author of it ; that he 
created the universe ; that he created man, gave him 
his superior intelligence and a soul that will live 
on when the body dies, and may live eternally in 
heaven if faithful to God in this life. 



The New Testament. 13 



CHAPTER II. 



The New Testament: Its Great Importance to Us. 



While the Old Testament is of untold value and 
importance to us, the New Testament is of much 
greater importance. It is the book through the 
guidance of which all are to be saved, if saved at 
all, from the establishment of the kingdom of Christ 
till time shall end. It is the grandest revelation 
ever given to mortals of earth. As compared with 
the Old Testament, it is " a better covenant, which 
was established upon better promises." (Heb. 8: 
6.) The old covenant was a series of carnal ordi- 
nances. " Which was a figure for the time then 
present, in which were offered both gifts and sacri- 
fices, that could not make him that did the service 
perfect, as pertaining to the conscience ; which stood 
only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and 
carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time 
of reformation." (Heb. 9: 9, 10.) "The time of 
reformation " meant the coming of Christ and the 
establishment of the new covenant. " But Christ 
being come an high priest of good things to come, 
by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made 
with hands, that is to say, not of this building. 
. . . For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and 
the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanc- 
tifieth to the purifying of the flesh : how much more 
shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal 



14 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge 
your conscience from dead works to serve the liv- 
ing God?" (Verses 11-14.) Truly this new and 
everlasting covenant is a wonderful blessing offered 
to all the generations of this world from the first 
Pentecost after the sufferings of Christ on the cross 
till time shall end. 

We have great reason to be thankful that we 
were born under this covenant and that our lots 
were cast in this Bible land, in which it is our priv- 
ilege to read and hear and learn how to become 
Christians, and to live the Christian life through all 
the rest of our days in hope of an eternal home in 
glory. While the law of Moses was incomplete in 
many respects, the new covenant covers all the ne- 
cessities of mortality. It cultivates the heart and 
the life in a sense unknown to the law of Moses. 
The law did not elevate, soften, and purify the heart 
as does the new covenant. The law was chiefly a 
fleshly institution, involving fleshly ordinances per- 
taining to the fleshly man, while the new covenant 
is spiritual and appeals to the inner man, and is in- 
tended to so educate and control the inner man as 
to lead it to control the outer man, the flesh, and 
keep that in subjection to the w r ill of God. While 
the law of Moses was ushered in amid the terrors 
of Mount Sinai, making the people tremble and 
ask Moses to go up and talk with the Lord and 
to bring them his word, the new covenant was 
planned in heaven and brought about by the grand- 
est exhibition of love and tender mercy ever mani- 
fested to the inhabitants of earth. While the law 
was arranged to keep its subjects in obedience by 
carnal ordinances and judgments, the gospel is in- 



The New Testament. 15 

tended to kindle such a degree of love in the hearts 
of God's children as to lead them to do his will 
from the principle of love to him, and the eternal 
principles of right as set forth in the inimitable 
teaching of the New Testament, and as manifested 
in the pure and beautiful life of the Son of God. 

All, therefore, should take an interest in reading 
and studying this precious volume in which are con- 
tained the eternal interests of the soul. And we 
may certainly read the New Testament with the 
very fullest assurance of faith that its divine rec- 
ords are true. Christ was a remarkable boy at 
twelve years of age, as given in this wonderful vol- 
ume. He went with his parents to one of the an- 
nual feasts at Jerusalem, and remained, without 
their knowledge, in the city. When they had gone 
a day's journey, they found he was not with any 
of the crowd returning homeward, and they went 
back ; and, after long search, they found him in 
the temple asking and answering questions with the 
doctors and lawyers, a most remarkable thing for 
a boy of his age and without any school education. 
But he returned home with them, and was subject 
unto Joseph and Mary, the Son of God as he was, 
and thus left an example of obedience to parents 
by all children to the end of time. While, as the 
Son of God, he thought it good to be in his Fa- 
ther's house about his Father's business, he meekly 
submitted to go home and be obedient to his 
mother, Mary, and his reputed father, Joseph. 

At the age of thirty he went " from Galilee to 
Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him." (Matt. 
3 : 13.) Thus all men have in the Son of God, who 
was to be the Savior of sinners, a beautiful exam- 



1 6 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

pie in yielding such a hearty obedience to his Fa- 
ther's will in thus submitting to this divine ordi- 
nance of baptism. The example is a sublime one, 
in the fact that he made that trip with the fixed 
purpose " to be baptized." He that would place a 
light estimate upon the importance of the ordinance 
of baptism needs to thoroughly study this divine 
example of Jesus in going so far to honor his Fa- 
ther in this divine ordinance, and carefully study 
the saying of Peter that Christ has left an exam- 
ple and that we should follow his steps, and settle 
the question as to how he can follow the steps of 
Jesus and not be baptized. 

Then the circumstances attending the baptism of 
Jesus were most remarkable. When he had been 
buried in baptism in the Jordan and had come up 
out of the water, the heavens were opened unto 
him and the Spirit of God in the form of a dove 
descended upon him, " and a voice came out of the 
heavens, Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I am 
well pleased." (Mark 1: 11.) This was truly a 
sublime recognition of Jesus as the Son of God, and 
should deeply impress every soul that reads or 
hears it. This was the sublimest introduction and 
recognition that had ever been given to any one 
of this earth. Then his trip into the wilderness, 
and his wonderful triumph over the three tempta- 
tions of Satan by simply appealing to and relying 
upon the word of God, is a striking example for us 
in more ways than one. It shows so beautifully 
how all can now overcome all temptations by study- 
ing the word of God, and by using and relying upon 
it as Jesus did,, and also the importance of strong 
faith in God and his word. 



The New Testament. 17 

Then the Sermon on the Mount was the most 
astonishing message that had up to that time ever 
been delivered to mortals of earth. It has stood 
the criticisms of nearly two thousand years un- 
scathed, while its divine origin has never been 
doubted for one moment by any that admit the ex- 
istence of God. The teaching of that sermon was 
so far above anything that any uninspired man had 
ever taught that it proves itself to be of divine ori- 
gin beyond any reasonable controversy. The moral 
teaching of that sermon was such as no man had 
ever taught that had no inspiration from God. He 
taught principles in that sermon that fully and 
thoroughly apply in the gospel plan of salvation 
from the time one sets out to become a Christian, 
till the last act of service in the life the Lord's peo- 
ple are required to live until death shall take them 
away from earth. The first part of that sermon 
involves principles that belong to the whole matter 
of Christianity from the beginning to the end ; and 
not one thing in all the blessings pronounced and 
the principles involved in it is in the least out of 
harmony with one single thing involved in them, 
with anything required ifi the gospel of Christ, from 
the matter of becoming a Christian to the end of 
the Christian life. It would have been impossible 
for any one to do these things without being full 
of the inspiring power of the Holy Spirit. There 
never was greater miraculous power manifested 
than was manifested by the Son of God in this Ser- 
mon on the Mount. " For he whom God hath sent 
speaketh the words of God : for he giveth not the 
Spirit by measure. The Father loveth the Son, and 
hath given all things into his hand." (John 3 : 34, 
2 



18 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

35.) Thus the Spirit and power of God were given 
so abundantly to Jesus that he could look forward 
over the whole gospel plan of salvation and know 
beforehand every feature of it and all the princi- 
ples that would belong to it ; and, therefore, he knew 
how to present in that wonderful sermon every 
principle that would be involved in the whole make 
up of the new and everlasting covenant, so as to 
harmonize perfectly with every item of it from its 
Alpha to its Omega. This power was as astonish- 
ing as that that made the worlds, and leaves us no 
doubt about the truth of the divinity of Christ, and 
the full inspiration of the whole matter of the cove- 
nant of grace. Hence this sermon of Jesus was 
one of the most sublime prophecies that was ever 
uttered, giving us a most beautiful picture of what 
the whole plan of salvation would be, years before 
the church, the kingdom of God and of Christ, was 
set up in the earth, and before anything like it had 
ever been seen on the earth. 

That the history of Christ was written by the 
men whose names it bears and at the time claimed 
for it, is beyond reasonable controversy. It is also 
a fact that thousands of 'people that saw Christ 
and heard his teaching, witnessed the miracles he 
did, were still living when Jesus died and rose again, 
and were living when these things were recorded; 
and had they not been true, they would have been 
cried down at once, and their words could have 
gained no credence at all. Yet there are no records 
dating from the time that these things were pub- 
lished by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John that pre- 
tend to deny that Jesus was on earth at the time 
they say he was, nor that he did the miracles these 



The Neiv Testament. 19 

witnesses say he did, nor that he was crucified at the 
time they say he was, nor that he arose from the 
dead when they say he did. Hence these men have 
the floor to-day as true witnesses of all the matters 
they record about Jesus, the Son of God. We are, 
therefore, entitled to exercise full faith in what they 
record concerning all that Jesus said and did, from 
the time he entered upon his personal ministry till 
he ascended to his Father. Therefore we have the 
fullest testimony that Jesus was actually present 
on that mountain, and that he really spoke this, 
the most remarkable sermon that had ever been 
preached on this earth ; and we can all see that ev- 
erything said in that sermon harmonizes most per- 
fectly with every -word said in the New Testament 
to the end of Revelation. So when we read to-day 
what Jesus said, we are virtually hearing him talk, 
and should realize it as thoroughly as if he were 
here personally on earth now, and that we were 
hearing it from his own mouth. We are indebted 
to the four writers above named for the entire per- 
sonal history of Jesus and all his personal teach- 
ing, and for the report of all his miracles, of his 
tragical death and his triumphant resurrection from 
the grave. The teaching of Christ as reported by 
these four men is the most interesting teaching that 
had ever been given to men. 

Jesus himself, when at Nazareth, his old home, 
went into the synagogue, and the book of Isaiah 
was handed him, and he opened and read of him- 
self as follows : " The Spirit of the Lord is upon 
me, because he anointed me to preach good tid- 
ings to the poor : he hath sent me to proclaim re- 
lease to the captives, and recovering of sight to 



20 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to 
proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." (Luke 
4 : 18, 19.) This gives us a brief and figurative 
summary of the mission of the Son of God into this 
world, a brief statement of what he would do for 
the human race ; that he would deliver them from 
their terrible bondage under sin, lift them out of 
their degraded thralldom under sin, and set the cap- 
tives free. What a wonderful uplifting there would 
be if all who are bound down under the chains of 
sin, and in ignorance and superstition, would accept 
the glorious gospel of Christ, obey its pure and 
holy precepts, and allow themselves to be lifted up 
out of the snares and pollutions of sin, and be en- 
nobled, elevated, purified, redeemed from all in- 
iquity, and made the Lord's own peculiar people ! 
Then indeed would the slaves to sin be unbound 
and the acceptable year of the Lord would be on ; 
and, indeed, to all that have been willing to accept 
the teaching of the Son of God, the gospel of Christ, 
and then live out its heaven-taught principles, the 
acceptable year of the Lord has been on from New 
Testament times. 

The full extent of this interesting prophecy of 
Isaiah was never understood and appreciated till 
Jesus came, fulfilled it, and its sublime teaching 
was manifested in and through the glorious gospel 
of Christ. Compare the most enlightened and 
Christianized people of the United States or of 
Great Britain with the benighted people of the 
earth where Christ and the gospel are unknown, or 
compare the best Christians of these countries with 
the proud-hearted scribes and Pharisees that re- 
jected and crucified the Lord of glory, and you can- 



The New Testament. 21 

not hesitate to say that, so far" as the gospel has 
been embraced and lived out, Christ has done and 
is still doing all for a sinful, bruised, and ruined 
world that this beautiful prophecy' indicates. Je- 
sus is indeed a purifier and refiner to* all that ac- 
cept and practice his teaching. 

What a teacher is Jesus ! One of his broad max- 
ims that belongs to the whole lifetime of the Chris- 
tian as given in the Sermon on the Mount is : "All 
things therefore whatsoever ye would that men 
should do unto you, even so do ye also unto them : 
for this is the law and the prophets." (Matt. 7 : 12.) 
This is an exceedingly strong presentation of a prin- 
ciple that will hold good in all our treatment of our 
fellow-men just so long as our associations last. No 
child of God is free from the principle stated in this 
sweeping expression till he dies. Not that this 
alone will prepare a man for heaven, but it covers 
an important field of duty. Socrates, Buddha, and 
Confucius had maxims they thought good, but put 
them in the negative like this : " Do not do unto 
others what you would not have done to* you." 
This is so thoroughly negative that it kills out most 
of the doing. But Jesus puts it on the positive do- 
ing line : " Do unto others what you would have 
them do unto you." This covers all the ground, 
and ought to be cordially carried out by all true 
children of God. It shows a great degree of per- 
fection to which all should strive to attain. It is 
undoubted evidence that a divine mind produced it. 
It is on a plane so much higher and purer than 
uninspired humanity ever reached that it undis- 
putably shows its divine origin. 

The parables of Jesus also are wonderful produc- 



22 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

tions, while the lessons taught in them are sublime. 
They are put in such a plain, simple way that ev- 
erybody, with the fully developed plan of salvation 
before them, can readily understand their meaning. 
The parable of the sower is an exceedingly inter- 
esting one. It presents the word of God as the seed 
of the kingdom of heaven. Plant a grain of corn 
in the earth, and, when it springs up, cultivate and 
attend to it, and it will produce several hundred 
more grains ; and every one knows that the germ, 
the power to infallibly produce the same kind, was 
in the grain, the seed that was planted. So the 
word of the Lord, the gospel of Christ, sown in 
the heart of a sinner, cultivated and nurtured by 
him, will produce a Christian ; and if faithful, he 
will be instrumental in- producing others; and thus 
on and on the work will go, till hundreds — it may 
be, many thousands — may result from the gospel 
sown in one man's heart. How astonishing the 
multiplying powers of the word of the Lord, the 
saving power of the gospel of Christ ! No one will 
ever know the good he may have done by receiving 
the gospel seed into an honest and good heart, 
which will develop him into a faithful Christian, 
who will be instrumental in bringing others into the 
fold of Christ, this side of the judgment seat and the 
home of the soul. 

What a valuable book is the New Testament ! 
We can give it but a touch in this short chapter. 
It informs us of that tender, touching love that 
gave us the precious Babe of Bethlehem, the mirac- 
ulous Man of Galilee, the great Teacher of the Holy 
Land and of the historic Jewish people, the Hero 
of the mock trial, of the cross, and of the tomb ; 



The New Testament. 23 

the One who in these sufferings and triumphs gave 
us the plan of salvation by grace and the church 
of God ; who overpowered death and the grave and 
opened up to us immortality and eternal life, and 
marked out to us the narrow way that leads to the 
pearly gates of the eternal city. What a wonderful 
volume, revealing to a perishing world such a flood 
of light, dissipating such a world of darkness, and 
showing to poor, sinful mortals of earth how to be- 
come pure, spiritual immortals, and to dwell with 
all the holy throng around the eternal throne in 
glory ! Who would not love to read, study, under- 
stand, and follow such a volume — follow the meek, 
lowly One who gave up his life in the awful trag- 
edy of the cross to provide blessings so pure, so de- 
sirable, exalting, and enduring, as the blessings of 
the glorious gospel of Christ? Nothing short of 
eternity will be long enough to give adequate praise 
and honor to God and the Lamb for blessings so 
inexpressibly sublime. 



24 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 



CHAPTER III. 



Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth. 



" Study to show thyself approved unto God, a 
workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly 
dividing the word of truth." (2 Tim. 2: 15.) This 
instruction was given by Paul to a young preacher, 
and was certainly a timely reminder to be given 
any man that teaches the word of God, or to any 
man that wants to fully understand his own duty 
in the sight of the Lord ; and this instruction is 
especially timely in these days of so many denomi- 
nations and so many different and conflicting doc- 
trines on conversion and many other themes con- 
nected with the work and worship of the church. 
It is a plain indication of the great importance of 
God's word, and that God intends for the people 
to have it in its purity and in its proper order and 
application. To wrongly divide and apply the word 
of God is to pervert it and to make it teach things 
that God never authorized. There is one right di- 
vision of the word, but many wrong ways to di- 
vide and apply it, and many ways to put in hu- 
manisms and false doctrines which God never in- 
tended to be taught, and which only lead people 
away from Christ, and not to him. The Bible is a 
good-sized book, in many parts and for many pur- 
poses. He, therefore, that would teach it correctly 
must study it — must study it in its many parts and 



Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth. 25 

purposes to know how to rightly divide and apply 
it. The salvation of souls is the most important 
thing in all the world, and to handle and apply the 
word so as to mislead people and cause the loss of 
souls is an awful thing. To be the cause in any 
way of leading people into error and to blind them 
to any matter of plain truth, and to carry them off 
into things God never ordained and to cause them 
to stumble at the truth and wander into error and 
darkness and be eternally lost at last, is terrible 
sin. Hence, the above is an exceedingly important 
command. 

The word of God may be so divided and applied 
as to become the doctrines and commandments of 
men, and may utterly make void the word of God, 
and cause people to follow men instead of Christ. 
The scribes and Pharisees had so far done this in 
the days of the Savior as to make void many of the 
commands of God in the law of Moses. They had 
gone so far with this that Jesus told them : " Ye 
compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and 
when he is made ye make him twofold more the 
child of hell than yourselves." (Matt. 23: 15.) 
These Pharisees worked all sorts of schemes to 
palm off their misapplications of the word of God. 
In their applications of the word of God, when it 
suited them, they would exalt one passage to the 
skies and lower others as matters of no importance, 
and give passages they exalted precedence over pas- 
sages they depreciated, thus so exalting some as to 
make them destroy others that might be in the way 
of their doctrines. As an example of this, oiie of 
the Ten Commandments was, " Honor thy father 
and thy mother : that thy days may be long upon 



26 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee." 
(Ex. 20: 12.) This word "honor" comprehends 
obedience, support, or any sort of assistance they 
need, in ill health or old age. But the scribes and 
Pharisees exalted the matter of giving to the Lord, 
to the cause of God, clear above this command to 
honor parents, and killed it, by exalting the one 
to give to the Lord. In the New Testament we 
have an illustration of this. The scribes and Phari- 
sees complained to Christ that his disciples disre- 
garded the tradition of the elders in the matter of 
washing hands. " But he answered and said unto 
them, Why do ye also transgress the command- 
ment of God . by your tradition ? For God com- 
manded, saying, Honor thy father and mother : and, 
He that curseth father or mother, let him die the 
death. But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his fa- 
ther or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou 
mightest be profited by me; and honor not his. fa- 
ther or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have 
ye made the commandment of God of none effect by 
your tradition." (Matt. 15: 3-6.) In the expres- 
sion of a son to his father or his mother, " It is a 
gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by 
me," it means : " I have already given what I might 
have given you, to the Lord." In the correspond- 
ing passage in Mark (chapter 7) it is put, " It is 
Corban " — that is, " given to God," what I might 
otherwise have given thee. All this means that if 
a son would give to God, put in God's treasury a 
liberal amount, he should be freed from obligations 
to his father's and his mother's necessities. Thus 
they overexalted one passage and underestimated 



Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth. 27 

another that was just as important. Both were in- 
tended to be obeyed by the God who gave them. 

In the Revised Version the text at the head of 
this chapter, instead of " rightly dividing," has 
" handling aright the word of truth." To handle 
aright the word of God would forever do away with 
such use of the word of God as the scribes and 
Pharisees made when they made one passage of the 
word of God destroy another. Handling the word 
of God aright would prevent religious people from 
ever exalting a matter of tradition, or of human 
wisdom, into the position of an ordinance of God, 
as those scribes and Pharisees did when they ex- 
alted the washing of hands into a matter of religious 
service, and reproved even the Son of God because 
his disciples did not observe it. That sort of han- 
dling of the word of God — to suppress one passage, 
as that of honoring parents, and overexalt and mis- 
apply passages concerning giving, and apply them 
in a sense God never intended, and then exalt a 
mere human custom into an act of religious service 
and try to enforce its observance — would make a 
mere toy of the Bible and destroy the whole thing 
so completely that its power and influence over men 
would soon be at an end ; and yet the very same 
sort of thing is being done extensively with many 
things and in many ways in the New Testament. 
Baptism and prayer are both extensively taught and 
enjoined in the New Testament. Yet in what is 
usually known as the " prayer system of conver- 
sion," an office, or power, is given to prayer that 
God never intended and in a place that he never 
put it. 



28 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

Those who practice that system so handle and 
misplace prayer as to entirely eliminate baptism 
from the conversion of the sinner and place it as a 
Christian duty, instead of in connection with the 
conversion and salvation of the sinner, where the 
Lord placed it. To misplace and misapply the word 
of God thus tends to destroy its power and influence. 
God never ordained prayer to take the place of, or 
to in any way interfere with baptism ; and when it 
is thus placed and enforced, it becomes a human de- 
vice, while God's authority is set aside, and the pur- 
pose, the design, of both ordinances is misplaced, 
and an utter failure made in " handling aright the 
word of God;" for God never placed prayer as a 
part of the sinner's conversion, nor did he ever 
place baptism as a Christian duty. Violent hands 
are, therefore, laid upon God's holy word whenever 
these misapplications are made. God placed faith 
in the gospel, repentance, and baptism as things 
the sinner is to do to entitle him to the promise of 
the remission of sins, while prayer has always been 
required at the hands of the child of God. While 
I would not say the sinner should not in any sense 
pray during his conversion, there can be no mis- 
take in its being a perversion and misapplication 
to allow it to in any way interfere with baptism, 
and put it out of the place where God put it. 

Prayer is not intended to take the place of, nor to 
in anywise interfere with, obedience to any other 
commandment. Prayer must not hinder the sinner 
one moment from obeying with full purpose of heart 
the commands to believe, to repent, and to be bap- 
tized. Whenever it does, God's authority is set 
aside and human authority is put in its place, and 



Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth.. 29 

the promises of God forfeited. If an unconverted 
man will go right on doing the will of God and 
only pray God's help in his obedience, I would -not 
say that his prayer would be anything amiss to him. 
But whenever he so uses his prayer as to in any 
way set aside or take the place of one single com- 
mand of God, he ruins everything, and puts a mere 
matter of human wisdom in place of God's divine 
arrangement. The same principle is true with a 
Christian. During his entire life he is positively 
required to always pray, and not to faint. But 
whenever he puts it in the place of one single com- 
mand of God, he is mishandling, misapplying, the 
word of God, and trying to make one passage take 
the place of another, as did the Jews. In putting 
one command in the place of another, we assume 
to have greater wisdom than God and make void 
the commands of God by the doctrines . of men. 
None of the commands of God are nonessential. 
Prayer is essential in its place and for its purpose. 
But if the Christian depends upon his prayer to 
feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, or to send out 
the gospel to save sinners, and makes no effort to- 
ward doing these things, his prayer will be a fail- 
ure and his Christian life a delusion and hypocrisy. 

But while these are all ruinous to the proper han- 
dling and application of the word of truth, we must 
realize that there are many ways of hindering truth 
and of propagating error. Since the Bible comes to 
us in many parts, and these different parts in- 
tended to teach different things, it especially be- 
hooves those that would teach the Bible to read 
and study the different parts, so as to point out 
to the people the very things they need to learn. 



30 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

Just upon the principle that a book on grammar is 
arranged with different lessons in different parts 
of the book, so the Bible has different lessons in 
different parts of it ; and as the teacher of gram- 
mar must understand that branch of education so 
as to be able to direct beginners in what parts to 
study to get the different lessons to be learned and 
the order in which to learn them, so the teacher qf 
the word of truth should be sufficiently familiar 
with the different parts of the inspired volume to 
know where to turn or to refer the learners to the 
parts from which to get what they desire to know. 
He should, in fact, be so familiar with the Bible and 
all practical matters of Christianity as to know just 
what part of the great Book to turn to, to teach that 
lesson ; and as there are more lessons than one to 
be studied, he should know just where to find what 
he wants to teach, so as to be able to teach the 
very things the people need to know, and in the 
order in which the Lord intends they should be pre- 
sented. 

The five books of Moses are the first five of that 
wonderful collection of books called the " Bible." 
These begin with the. grand work of creation. 
The first sentence is : " In the beginning God cre- 
ated the heaven and the earth." Not only the 
heaven and the earth, but everything that exists 
on the earth was created by the word and power 
of God. Moses was the first man that wrote any- 
thing that has come down to us. Hence this, so 
far as we know, is the first inspired oracle that was 
ever written, and the first satisfactory account ever 
written regarding the origin of this physical uni- 
verse; and from then till now there has never been 



Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth. 31 

a word of change suggested on that grand sentence. 
There has been no need of change. That first sen- 
tence was perfect, was complete, and nothing re- 
mained to be added. Immediately following this 
divine sentence is the account of what was done 
during the six days of creating and arranging things 
on the earth — of the sun, moon, and stars, and of 
the creation of man, and of the Lord resting from 
the great work which he had done. Then follows 
the history of men, in their generations, to the flood, 
to the folly at Babel, and on down, to the death of 
Jacob and Joseph in Egypt. For information on 
all these things, we must read the book of Genesis. 
These histories have never been repeated to any 
extent. Allusions have been made elsewhere to 
many of the items given in this first book, but not 
the histories. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are men- 
tioned incidentally many times ; but to get their 
history, this unique book must be read. The gar- 
den of Eden, the flood, the history of the human 
race for about twenty-five hundred years, is found 
in the book of Genesis ; so of necessity that book 
must be read to get these histories. 

The book of Exodus is next. As its name indi- 
cates, it gives the delivery of the children of Israel 
from the hard bondage to which they had been so 
long subjected in" the land of Egypt, the going out 
from that country and that bondage. Very many 
other things are introduced in that book, such as 
the giving of the Ten Commandments and other 
portions of the law of Moses, the gifts for and the 
building of the tabernacle and all the furniture per- 
taining to it, the inauguration of the tabernacle 
worship, and such like ; but the departure, the 



32 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

coming out, with all the miraculous events con- 
nected with that deliverance, made up all the first 
part of the book and gave it the name. ' These two 
books very forcibly illustrate the importance of the 
principle that the Bible is a book of many parts 
and many purposes to be accomplished. The five 
books of Moses make up a very wonderful part of 
the history of the world down to the death of 
Closes, telling much about the excessive sinfulness 
of many of the people, and the awful punishment 
and ruin that were visited upon their sins. 

If we could spare space, it would be interesting 
to sketch much of the history of many of the other 
books of the Old Testament; but we are more im- 
mediately concerned about the Christian religion, 
the gospel plan of salvation, and how to find the 
way of salvation through Jesus our Lord. While 
there are many prophecies in the Old Testament 
concerning the coming of Christ, the Christian re- 
ligion is not developed in that book. Yet when I 
was a boy, the preachers appealed to the Old Testa- 
ment almost as much as to the New Testament 
when preaching on the subject of conversion. One 
text that they quoted almost always when preach- 
ing on conversion was the following : " He brought 
me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry 
clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established 
my goings. And he hath put a new song in my 
mouth, even praise unto our God : many shall see 
it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord." (Ps. 40: 
2. 3.) This passage they applied to the matter of 
getting religion, the matter of the Lord speaking 
peace to their souls at the moment they supposed 
they received remission of sins. This was surely 



Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth. 33 

a great blunder in the matter of rightly dividing and 
applying the word of truth. This psalm is evi- 
dently closely connected with the two psalms im- 
mediately preceding it. In these David appears to 
be complaining of some troublesome disease and 
praying God's blessings upon him, lest he should 
die and go hence. He also humbly confessed very 
serious sin, and prayed God to have mercy upon 
him. In the passage we quoted he is greatly re- 
joicing that the Lord had heard his cry, had 
lifted him out of his great affliction, and had for- 
given him ; but it has no sort of reference to the 
matter of conversion under Christianity, and it is a 
great mishandling and misapplication of the word 
of God to so apply it, and thus indicates the igno- 
rance of those teachers of the Bible, in its proper di- 
vision and application. 

But the Christian religion is only given in proph- 
ecy and in types and shadows in the Old Testa- 
ment. It is revealed in its plainness and fullness 
only in the New Testament, and that is where the 
proper division must be especially regarded. This 
book contains twenty-seven parts, and may be prop- 
erly considered, first, in three grand and proper di- 
visions. The first of these divisions is contained 
in the first four books — Matthew, Mark, Luke, and 
John. These are largely taken up in history — the 
history of John the Baptist and his work, of Christ 
and his grand work, and of the twelve apostles un- 
der their first commission. This division may be 
considered as preparatory, getting things in readi- 
ness for the full establishment of the church of God, 
the kingdom of Christ. John came first into his 
ministry, made ready a people prepared for the 
3 



34 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

Lord, introduced the Son of God to Israel, and then 
pretty soon dropped out, and the Son of God and 
his prepared ones came to the front to make still 
further preparations for the coming kingdom, which 
was near at hand. For some three years and a 
half the personal ministry of Christ continued, prov- 
ing himself to be the Son of God by many infalli- 
ble proofs, and training his apostles for the grand 
work they were to do, and getting things in readi- 
ness for the strange tragedy of the cross. If any 
want undoubted proof that Jesus of Nazareth was 
and is the Son of God, let them read these four 
books, together with the prophecies of the Old Tes- 
tament. If these do not convince him, his case will 
be hard to reach. John says of the things he had 
recorded on this line : " These are written, that ye 
might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of 
God ; and that believing ye might have life through 
his name." (John 20: 31.) This shows the real 
purpose of these four books. They are to identify 
and exalt Jesus first as the Lamb of God that tak- 
eth away the sin of the world, and then as the as- 
cended Lord and Christ, where he is to reign as 
King till the time comes when he shall deliver up 
the kingdom to his Father, who shall be all in all. 
Thus these books are historical and preparatory. 
They are not intended to give the fully developed 
state of the kingdom, not intended to show people 
how to become Christians. It is true these four 
books give the last commission of Christ to the 
apostles; but the apostles themselves did not know 
how to apply this commission when it was given, 
and were told not to begin it till they should re- 
ceive power from on high. So it is a matter of fact 



Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth. 35 

that conversion, as we need to have it now, is not 
explicitly given in this first division of the New 
Testament. 

The next division is the book of Acts, also writ- 
ten by Luke. This book contains the preaching 
of the apostles after the Holy Spirit had come upon 
them and had fully qualified them to preach the 
gospel, with all its specific demands, and to teach 
sinners just what to do to enter the fully developed 
state of the kingdom. On the very day the Spirit 
came upon them, the day of Pentecost, recorded in 
the second chapter of this book, the % apostles began 
to preach the gospel as required in the last com- 
mission, preached it just as it was to go to the whole 
world to the end of time, and preached it just as 
the miraculous power of the Holy Spirit gave them 
utterance. They preached it as it had never been 
preached before. Up to this time the kingdom of 
heaven, the church of God, and the death of Christ 
had always been spoken of as in the future. But 
on the day of Pentecost the death of Christ was 
presented as an accomplished fact, as was also his 
resurrection from the dead. Peter could say on 
that day, of Christ : " Him, being delivered by the 
determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye 
have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and 
slain : whom God hath raised up, having loosed the 
pains of death, because it was not possible that 
he should be holden of it." These facts could not 
be proclaimed as having already occurred until after 
the crucifixion ; but on this day they could say in 
truth that he had been crucified, had been raised 
from the dead. But from this day forward it was 
never preached any other way. On this day Peter 



36 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

said for the first time : " Repent, and be baptized 
. . . in the name of Jesus Christ." No one, un- 
til this sentence was uttered, was ever told to re- 
pent or to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, 
but from that day onward it has been the universal 
order. John's baptism was not done in any name so 
far as the record shows. 

These things show clearly that a new order of 
things began on that day ; but from this day there 
was never another change by the authority of God. 
So if we want to learn how people are to be con- 
verted now, we must begin with this chapter and 
study it and the rest of this book. We cannot find 
how people are now to be saved till we reach this 
chapter. I know, however, that people claim sev- 
eral items in the personal ministry of Christ as ex- 
amples of becoming Christians now — such as the 
case of the sinful woman (Luke 7), the thief on 
the cross (Luke 23), and the publican (Luke 18). 
But all these occurred before Christ died, before his 
blood was shed for remission, before the gospel 
plan of salvation was prepared by which we are to 
be saved. If these persons were saved, which we 
will not argue now, they were not saved as we have 
to be saved. If saved at all, we have to be saved 
by the blood of Christ, which had not been shed 
when these persons were saved ; and so we cannot 
be saved now as those people were. People have 
been saved in all the ages from before the flood 
up to the death of Christ, but none of them in the 
same way and on the same conditions they were 
saved on the day of Pentecost. Not one was ever 
saved that way till that day. All, therefore, that 
refer people to any case or incident before that 



Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth. 37 

memorable day go too far back. They fail to 
rightly divide the word of truth, and run the whole 
matter of salvation into confusion. No man can 
go back and be saved by any institution or dispen- 
sation of things that existed before Jesus died on 
the cross. But if we come to the day of Pentecost, 
then everything is ready for the beginning of a new 
order of things. Christ had then been crucified, his 
blood had been shed, the great sacrifice had been 
made, and Jesus had ascended, where he was ap- 
pointed to become " head over all things to the 
church'" Hence, on the day of Pentecost was the 
full establishment of the new dispensation, the 
church of God, the kingdom of Christ on earth. 
This order of things was to last till the close of 
time. Hence, from that day all that have ever been 
saved at all have been saved as the three thousand 
were. 

The conversions of that day were very simple 
and easy to be understood. The gospel facts that 
Jesus had died and had risen again were preached 
first; the people heard, understood, believed, re- 
pented, and were baptized, as directed by the Holy 
Spirit through Peter. In the next chapter the same 
gospel was preached again, and many more heard, 
believed, obeyed, and the number of the disciples 
became five thousand. All the way through Acts 
of the Apostles the same gospel was preached and 
the same obedience rendered. This is the only 
book in the Bible that gives specifically and in its 
proper order the whole matter of becoming Chris- 
tians. 

The third division of the New Testament includes 
the letters of the apostles to the churches and 



38 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

parts of the book of Revelation. This division 
teaches the practical life of the Christian and the 
practical work and worship of the church, intended 
to thoroughly post the Christian in all things per- 
taining to his practical duties in the church, pub- 
lic and private. In these letters to the churches are 
many figurative allusions to the matter of becom- 
ing Christians. .Some of these are very brief. But 
all of them agree perfectly with the plain, unfigura- 
tive presentation of conversion found in Acts of 
Apostles. The books preceding Acts lead up to and 
prepare us for the wonderful developments con- 
tained therein. The books succeeding it point back 
to that book as the basis of all the conversions of 
which they speak, making that book a kind of key- 
stone to the grand arch of salvation, thus making 
the New Testament a full and complete presenta- 
tion of the whole plan of salvation from its incep- 
tion to its consummation, showing every step of ad- 
vancement from the time the sinner hears the gos- 
pel and becomes a Christian until his preparation 
in purity and holiness is complete and he is ready 
to step off into the eternal home of the soul. 

What a wonderful book is the New Testament ! 
Proclaiming in such beauty the wonderful love 
which brought Jesus from above ; which led him 
through a life of the greatest usefulness the world 
ever saw, led him to the suffering scenes of the 
cross, to the tomb, back to life again, and to heaven 
to prepare a place for his loving followers ; prom- 
ising to come again to take them to himself forever. 
Who would not love to read and follow the guid- 
ance of such a book, do the loving service it re- 
quires, and draw continual happiness from its pre- 



Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth. 39 

cious promises? This precious book called the 
" New Testament " gives us the only specific and 
definite information we have in regard to the great 
beyond, toward which we are moving every mo- 
ment of our lives; while the book of Revelation, 
besides its plain, practical lessons, gives us, through 
prophecies, much of the future conditions of the 
church and the dark times of suffering and ruin yet 
to befall the people of this world. It is to be feared 
that few of us appreciate and use this remarkable 
book so as to secure all the promises it makes to 
the faithful. The New Testament thus divided and 
applied becomes one of the plainest books ever writ- 
ten, showing what God has done and what we must 
do in order to be saved from our past sins and in 
the eternal home beyond the dark river. 



40 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 



CHAPTER IV. 



The Gospel of Christ: What Is It? 



" For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ : 
for it is the power of God unto salvation to every 
one that believeth ; to the Jew first, and also to the 
Greek." (Rom. 1 : 16.) The meaning of this state- 
ment is a matter of the profoundest interest to lost 
sinners. The gospel is God's power for salvation 
to every creature that believes it. We will not 
consider in this chapter the matter of believing, 
but rather what it is that is to be believed. The 
word " gospel " signifies " glad tidings." Any sort 
of a message of salvation ought to be glad tidings 
to lost sinners. John the Baptist preached gospel 
— glad tidings — to the Jewish people, but not the 
gospel of Christ. He told them : " The kingdom of 
heaven is at hand." They had been long looking 
for the God of heaven to set up a kingdom, though 
they did not understand what that kingdom would 
be ; but it was glad tidings to them to thus learn 
that it was near. Christ preached the same glad 
tidings, and so did the apostles under their first 
commission. It is said of Jesus : " Now after that 
John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, 
preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God," 
(Mark 1 : 14) — that is, he preached the glad tidings 
that the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, 
was at hand. The expression " at hand " was ex- 



The Gospel of Christ: What Is It? 41 

plained by Jesus. He sent out the seventy to 
preach, and said unto them : "And into whatsoever 
city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things 
as are set before you : and heal the sick that are 
therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God 
is come nigh unto you." (Luke 10: 8, 9.) This 
shows that the kingdom of God was not set up in 
the days of John the Baptist, nor in the personal 
ministry of Christ, nor the first ministry of his 
apostles ; it was only nigh unto them ; and there 
was no change in this order of preaching between 
this statement and the death of Christ. They still 
preached the kingdom was at hand till the death of 
Christ, for there were some at the time of his death 
that were waiting for the kingdom of God. (See 
Luke 23 : 50, 51.) Joseph of Arimathea was a good 
man, and was waiting for it when Jesus was cruci- 
fied. 

So the gospel of the kingdom was not the same 
gospel that Paul spoke of as the gospel of Christ 
at the beginning of this chapter. But we will con- 
tinue the search. After Jesus had risen from the 
dead and before he ascended to heaven, he gave 
another commission into the hands of his apostles 
that differed very widely from the first one. In the 
first he told them not to go among the Gentiles, but 
to " the lost sheep of the house of Israel." So the 
preaching of John the Baptist, of Christ himself, 
and of his apostles during his public ministry, was 
not to the Gentiles, but to the Jews, among whom 
the kingdom of heaven was to be established, and 
then to be extended to the Gentiles. 

After Christ had risen from the dead, he gave to 
his apostles another commission, which is recorded, 



42 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

though in different language, by Matthew, Mark, 
Luke, and John. These are not records of different 
commissions, but different records of the same com- 
mission. We examine first the record by Mark 
(16: 15, 16): "And he said unto them, Go ye into 
all the world, and preach the gospel to the whole 
creation. He that believeth and is baptized shall 
be saved ; but he that disbelieveth shall be con- 
demned." In this record the first thing to be done 
where they went was to preach the gospel — glad 
tidings. The passage quoted from Romans calls it 
" the gospel of Christ " — glad tidings concerning 
Christ. Paul plainly tells us what the gospel is as 
preached by him : " Now I make known unto you, 
brethren, the gospel which I preached unto you, 
which also ye received, wherein also ye stand, by 
which also ye are saved, if ye hold fast what 
I preached unto you, except ye believed in vain. 
For I delivered unto you first of all that which 
also I received, how that Christ died for our sins 
according to the scriptures ; and that he was buried ; 
and that he hath been raised on the third day ac- 
cording to the scriptures." (1 Cor. 15: 1-4.) This 
shows in great plainness what the gospel facts are, 
which are the death, burial, and resurrection of 
Christ. 

Facts were never plainer than these; and surely 
they contain joyful tidings. Christ died for our 
sins, died to make it possible that our sins could be 
forgiven, and that we might be regarded as the 
Lord's people. All can see plainly from this what 
people are called upon to believe when called upon 
to believe the gospel. It shows how there is sal- 
vation in the gospel. The Corinthians had heard, 



The Gospel of Christ: What Is It? 43 

had believed, had received it, and were saved by it. 
So when Christ told the apostles to preach the gos- 
pel, it meant they were to preach these facts — were 
to preach Christ, and him crucified. They are plain, 
are easily understood, and had such overwhelm- 
ing testimony as to their truth that there was no 
room for doubt that the facts had really been en- 
acted, and that in believing these facts they truly 
believed the gospel. The matter of believing these 
plain facts is certainly a very plain, simple affair. 

Two of the conditions upon which sinners can be 
saved are laid down in the record of the commission 
by Mark. These two conditions are belief of the 
gospel and baptism. While only these two are 
mentioned in this record, we are not to conclude, 
therefore, that they are all. By examining other 
records of it we shall find at least one more. We 
take Luke's record next : "And he said unto them, 
Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer, 
and rise again from the dead the third day; and 
that repentance and remission of sins should be 
preached in his name unto all the nations, begin- 
ning from Jerusalem." (Luke 24: 46, 47.) This 
puts in another condition — repentance — and also the 
promise of remission of sins. He has the same 
preaching also that Mark has, only, instead of 
" preach the gospel," he mentions the facts that 
make up the gospel, which were to be preached to 
all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. In these 
two records we have three conditions, all of which 
precede the promise of pardon — faith, repentance, 
and baptism. No man can take these two records 
and show by them that pardon was before or in- 
dependent of any one of the others. Two of them 



44 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

are distinctly placed before baptism. Mark puts it: 
" He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." 
Luke has it that " repentance and remission' of sins 
should be preached." So he puts remission of sins 
after, not before, repentance. These scriptures, 
therefore, have to be ignored to get salvation until 
these three conditions have been complied with on 
the part of him that would be saved. Matthew's 
record of this commission is different from both the 
others, but is in such form as to show that all these 
conditions come in before pardon. This is his rec- 
ord : " Go ^e therefore, and make disciples of all the 
nations, baptizing them into the name of the -Fa- 
ther and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." 
(Matt. 28: 19.) He puts it: " Make disciples of 
all the nations." To make disciples involves more 
than simply to teach, instruct. This is simply the 
first part of the work of making disciples. The 
.other part is to induce them to become followers 
of Christ. None are disciples, except they become 
followers. Thousands learn of Christ, learn that he 
is the Son of God, and what he did to save sinners, 
and what they must do to be saved, but never do 
these things. These are not disciples and will be 
lost at last if they do no more. In becoming dis- 
ciples, these three steps or conditions already 
noted must all be taken. Matthew mentions but 
one, and that is the last one next to the promise 
of remission of sins. 

But every one that recognizes the authority of 
the commission knows that the last step — baptism 
— cannot be taken till the first two — faith and re- 
pentance — are taken. Mark puts faith as the first 
condition, Luke puts repentance before remission, 



The Gospel of Christ: What Is It? 45 

Matthew puts baptism as the step that puts peo- 
ple into Christ, and Paul shows that none are saved 
out of Christ. He says : " Therefore if any man 
be in Christ, he is a new creature : old things are 
passed away ; behold, all things are become new." 
(2 Cor. 5 : 17.) In Christ, a new creature, par- 
doned; out of him, not new, not pardoned, not 
saved. No matter how much faith and repent- 
ance have to do in preparing one for baptism, if 
he stops short of baptism, he is not in Christ, ac- 
cording to this and various other passages. Out 
of Christ there is no salvation. " There is none 
other name under heaven given among men, 
whereby we must be saved." (Acts 4: 12.) "In 
whom we have redemption through his blood, 
even the forgiveness of sins." (Col. 1 : 14.) The 
" whom " of this passage is Christ. So it is in him 
we have remission. Some claim they can go di- 
rect to God and find pardon without baptism. This 
is a mistake, for Paul says again regarding the mat- 
ter of reconciliation : " To wit, that God was in 
Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not im- 
putirig their trespasses unto them ; and hath com- 
mitted unto us the word of reconciliation." (2 Cor. 
5 : 19.) So they can only reach God through Christ 
— that is, by coming into Christ as the word directs. 
The man, therefore, that stops short of baptism 
will never reach the promise of pardon. There is, 
therefore, but one way to be saved by the gospel, 
and that is to obey the gospel. " Though he were 
a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which 
he suffered ; and being made perfect, he became the 
author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey 
him." (Heb. 5 : 8, 9.) 



46 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

To believe the gospel, to repent, and to be' bap- 
tized are all of them things the sinner is com- 
manded to do, while remission of sins is a promise. 
In doing what God has commanded, we obey the 
gospel. This done, the promise of remission is 
ours ; but not till then. When we continue to obey 
God through life, eternal salvation is ours. 

Salvation here and hereafter is through the gos- 
pel of Christ, and was first preached in fact on the 
day of Pentecost, in the city of Jerusalem, and re- 
corded in the second chapter of Acts. By careful 
examination of that chapter, we may learn what 
was preached and what was done and the order in 
which the conditions of pardon came in the sin- 
ner's obedience. On this very day the apostles 
were rilled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak 
as trie Spirit gave them utterance. In other words, 
the Spirit was speaking through them and in differ- 
ent languages. These facts, reported out through 
the city, soon brought a large crowd of people to- 
gether to see and hear what was going on. Peter 
began talking to them, saw the great astonishment 
of some, and, hearing some of them say, " These 
men are full of new wine," he said : " These are not 
drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third 
hour of the day. But," said he, " this is that which 
was spoken by the prophet Joel ; And it shall come 
to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out 
of my Spirit upon all flesh : and your sons and your 
daughters shall prophesy, and your young men 
shall see visions, and your old men shall dream 
dreams." He further explained this wonderful out- 
pouring of the Spirit, and then said to them spe- 
cifically: "Ye men of Israel, hear these words." 



The Gospel of Christ: What Is It? 47 

This was really the Spirit of God calling the atten- 
tion of the people to its words, thus : "J esus of Naz- 
areth, a man approved of God among you by mir- 
acles and wonders and signs, which God did by 
him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also 
know : him, being delivered by the determinate 
counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, 
and by wicked hands have crucified and slain : whom 
God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of 
death : because it' was not possible that he should 
be holden of it." 

These facts are what Paul calls the gospel, as 
we have seen, and what the apostles were com- 
manded to preach, beginning at Jerusalem. They 
were the very things Jesus said in the commission 
should be preached to all, and that all should be- 
lieve who would be saved. Peter goes on, after 
presenting these grand facts, to show from David 
that he was to rise from the dead, and that the 
apostles were also witnesses of his resurrection. 
At the conclusion of this he said : " Therefore let 
all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God 
hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have cruci- 
fied, both Lord and Christ." This was a climax 
reached in the wonderful facts presented as to what 
had resulted to Jesus, whom they had crucified, and 
at the same time was an exceedingly strong de- 
mand for faith on their part in what he said re- 
garding Jesus of Nazareth. It is the same as if 
he had said : " Believe these facts with all your 
hearts; be fully assured that all these things are 
true." 

The facts were too plain and the evidence too 
strong for them to resist. They were pierced to 



48 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

the heart, and in the deepest anxiety cried out: 
"Men and brethren, what shall we do?" This 
manifests a wonderful change in the minds of these 
people. They had only fifty days before given 
their voices for the death of Jesus. Now they 
firmly believe that he was truly the Son of God, was 
his anointed Son, was Lord also, and was made 
ruler at God's right hand. They now, in conse- 
quence of believing these facts, realize their terri- 
ble guilt in betraying and murdering the Son of 
God. So they asked : " What shall we do? " 

The question was likely asked by these people 
in as deep earnestness as it was ever asked by any 
people on this earth. No people ever had greater 
reason to ask it from the very depth of their hearts 
than they. There was also need for an answer, 
backed by the full authority of heaven. And so 
it was ; just that sort of an answer was at hand. 
The Holy Spirit, which had just that day come from 
heaven, sent by the Son of God himself, received 
also from the Father, thus combining the authority 
of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit 
itself, was present in Peter, to answer this mo- 
mentous question. Can any one say an answer 
from such authority was not sufficient, or that there 
was any mistake in it? If so, who is the wonderful 
personage that is competent to show what the mis- 
take is? 

But we will give the answer. To fully appreci- 
ate it, however, let it be remembered that the per- 
sons to whom it was given were true, earnest be- 
lievers in the gospel of Christ. To them it was 
said: "Repent, and be baptized every one of you 
in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of 



The Gospel of Christ: What Is 'It? 49 

sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy 
Ghost." The Revised Version has it "unto remis- 
sion " instead of " for." 

Now who is competent to criticise or improve 
upon this answer? The man that does it assumes 
to be greater and wiser than God, Christ, and the 
Holy Spirit, all combined. The conditions of re- 
mission of past sins and the order of them are 
plainly and definitely fixed in this passage. As 
plainly expressed, they are faith, repentance, and 
baptism, and this is the exact order in which they 
come ; and they show to every earnest, inquiring soul 
precisely where he can claim the promise of pardon. 
The same gospel, the same conditions of pardon 
and same order of conditions, and the same promise 
given then were to be proclaimed in all the world 
to every creature till time shall end. Hence the 
great reason why all should seek to understand the 
preaching, the law of pardon given then, and their 
order ; for they are just the same .to us as they were 
to them. No change has ever been made by di- 
vine authority; and woe be to the uninspired man 
that changes God's law or his order of things ! 

So this second chapter of Acts shows us plainly 
what Paul meant when he said of the gospel, " It 
is the power of God unto salvation to every one 
that believeth," and shows us precisely how all can 
appropriate this power to themselves and be saved 
if they will. There never was a plainer lesson 
given for the consideration of a sinful world than 
this second chapter of Acts. So very plain was it 
as presented on that day that about three thousand 
souls, the first time they had heard it, promptly ac- 
cepted it and were that very day baptized into Christ 
4 



50 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

and enjoyed the precious promise of the remission 
of their sins. Why should not all the world that 
want to be saved gladly embrace the same words, 
obey them, and thus allow the same gospel to be- 
come the power of God in their salvation now? 
Yet thousands claim to preach the gospel who nei- 
ther preach the facts nor the conditions of the gos- 
pel as Peter by the Holy Spirit preached them on 
that day. They preach imaginary things, and urge 
sinners to accept and do things Peter said not one 
word about on that memorable day. Thus these 
uninspired men lead them away from what the Holy 
Spirit said on that occasion. 

From the divine record as given above from the 
second chapter of Acts, no sinner, in order to believe 
the gospel, is required to believe any of the mod- 
ern opinions of men — such as the prayer system of 
getting religion, abstract spiritual influence, or any- 
thing else about which there is nothing said in the 
oracles of God. People who believe these and such 
like things put their faith in what men say, not in 
what God says, for he does not say any of these 
things. Therefore, there is no more power in any 
of these things to save than there is in the unin- 
spired men who utter them. But there is all power 
in God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the blood of 
Christ to save all that believe and obey the gospel 
as given in that chapter ; and the assurance of it 
is the positive promise of the word of God. 



Faith: How It Comes and What It Does. 51 



CHAPTER V. 



Faith: What is It, How Does It Come, and What 

Does It Do? 



There is not a plainer subject in the Bible than 
faith, and yet perhaps not one more thoroughly 
misunderstood or more extensively misapplied. In 
fact, it is so extensively misapplied that the faith 
of the New Testament is eliminated from the exer- 
cise and practice' of a large part of the religious 
world. They divide it up into two or three differ- 
ent kinds, which fill different places and accomplish 
different ends, as they suppose. They especially 
have what they call a " historical faith " and a faith 
which is the gift of God, which convicts and con- 
verts the soul, and which is with them, the faith 
that saves the soul. Believing that Christ was 
born in Bethlehem, that he was baptized by John 
in Jordan, that he went about doing good, and that 
he was crucified, buried, and raised again from the 
dead, as written in the first four books of the New 
Testament, is, with all those who believe in " get- 
ting religion," a mere historical faith, that, while it 
may lead to repentance, cannot lead to conversion 
and remission of sins. They talk much about a 
faith that is a direct gift of God, which converts the 
soul and works remission of sins. Yet there is not 
one word of any such divisions of faith in the word 
of God ; and, besides, such a division breaks up and 



52 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

destroys the faith of the Bible. No such faith as 
this second division represents is heard of or one 
time hinted at in all the Bible ; and since it is not 
revealed in the oracles of God, it is simply and only 
an opinion, a mere matter of imagination, and hin- 
ders people from exercising the faith that the word 
of God does require. 

The faith that we read about in the Bible is a 
faith that leads men to do what the word of God 
requires and to trust his promises for the blessing. 
It was just this sort of faith that led Abraham to 
leave his country and his kindred to go into the 
land of Canaan and to become a wanderer there 
for the balance of his life and made him one of the 
best men recorded in the oracles of God. It was a 
lack of this sort of faith that cast Adam and Eve 
out of the paradise that God gave them, thus shut- 
ting them out from the tree of life and dooming 
'them to mortality, with all its woes. It was the 
exercise of this sort of faith that led Noah to build 
the ark that saved him and his family from de- 
struction by the flood. It was not the . mere act 
of believing the truth of what God said to him 
about the flood that he foretold ; it was the exer- 
cise of his faith in the truth of God's word that 
led him to build the ark, and to build it just as God 
said to build it. Had he not done this, he would 
have perished in that flood just as did the rest of 
the antediluvian world. This is the sort of faith 
that influenced Lot to go out of Sodom when God 
had doomed it to destruction, and thus save his 
life, while a lack of it doomed his wife to be turned 
into a pillar of salt. It was just this sort of faith 
that saved the Jewish people from Egyptian bond- 



Faith: How It Comes and What It Does. 53 

age. They never would have thought or dreamed 
of doing what they did in coming out if God had 
not sent them a message of salvation by Moses and 
told them specifically what to do in order to be 
saved from bondage. They would have known it 
would be suicidal to attempt such a thing simply 
upon the dictates of their own wisdom ; but when 
God sent them a message of deliverance by Moses, 
and demonstrated the truth of it through him, and 
opened the way for them, they obeyed God and 
came out. But it was a lack of faith to lead them 
to do just what God said do that doomed such a 
vast crowd of them to die in the wilderness after 
they had reached the very borders of the promised 
land. On the other hand, it was faith in the word 
of God that led Caleb and Joshua to to do just what 
God said, that preserved them and led them into the 
land of milk and honey. 

But what was the origin of the faith that led the 
Jews to leave Egypt and to cross the Red Sea? It 
was the word of God delivered by Moses and con- 
firmed to their satisfaction by miraculous demon- 
stration. If no message had been sent them tell- 
ing them what the Lord had provided for them and 
what he required at their hands, and the evidences 
of the truth of the whole matter, they would no 
more have thought of such an undertaking than of 
attempting to make a new world.; and had they 
made such an attempt without the hand of God in 
it, they would have failed as signally as if they 
had attempted to make a new world. Men know 
nothing of faith or what is to be believed, except 
as God reveals it to them by his word. The Jews 
could have known nothing of what God had in store 



54 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

for them if he had not told them. But when he did 
tell them, it was their business to believe what he 
said about it, for he never asked them to believe 
a new message without confirmation of its truth 
by miracles ; and when this much was done, they 
all had equal chances to obey what was required 
and equal chances to secure his promises. They 
all did this in crossing the sea, and all alike en- 
joyed freedom from their enemies, who were 
drowned behind them. When the spies returned 
from searching the land of Canaan, all had equal 
chances to go right in and possess the land ; but 
only two out of the hundreds of thousands of the 
men of Israel so believed God as to do what he 
said do. These were Caleb and Joshua. The rest 
let their faith die just at the time they needed it 
most, and so wandered and died in the wilderness 
— died as strangers in a strange land ; while Caleb 
and Joshua were under God's 'care all those years, 
and were safely led into the promised land. 

All those people might have done as Caleb and 
Joshua did if they would. They had the same evi- 
dences of the power and greatness of God, had 
the assurance before them that -God would do what 
He had promised to do. But when it came to trust- 
ing God's promises to take them into the promised 
land, they broke down. They were not willing any 
longer to walk by faith in God's word ; so they 
failed by following their own wisdom and opinions. 
The faithful two still had faith enough to continue 
to do as God said, and kept up that faith till death. 
There never has been a time when any sort of faith 
would do men any good, except a faith that would 
lead them to do just as God directed. There is no 



Faith: How It Comes and What It Does. 55 

other sort of faith mentioned in the Bible through 
which to secure God's blessings. So the word of 
the Lord tells us that those Jews who failed to 
enter the promised land " entered not in because 
of unbelief." They were, therefore, purely respon- 
sible for the sad destiny that overtook them. 

The faith that saves under Christianity is of pre- 
cisely the same character, so that the examples of 
faith in the Old Testament throw a flood' of light 
on the subject as we find it in the New Testament. 
Abraham's faith is especially used as an example 
for us now ; and that is because he was faithful to 
do what he was commanded, and trained his fam- 
ily to do likewise. 

One of the passages of the New Testament that 
is used to teach justification by faith only is one 
of the very strongest to show that the Savior meant 
a developed faith — that is, a faith perfected by obe- 
dience. It is this : "And as Moses lifted up the ser- 
pent in the wilderness, even so must tjie Son of 
man be lifted up : that whosoever believeth in him 
should not perish, but have eternal life. For God 
so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten 
Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not 
perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3 : 14-16.) 
In this passage, so far as the phraseology is con- 
cerned, eternal life is twice promised on believing. 
But is it faith alone, simply the act of believing? 
If we construe it that way, we make it contradict 
other plain passages which plainly show that Chris- 
tians who have fully obeyed the gospel and have 
come into the church not only may sin and be lost, 
but that there is actual danger of it. Paul says 
of God : " Who will render to every man accord- 



56 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

ing to his deeds : to them who by patient continu- 
ance in welldoing seek for glory and honor and 
immortality, eternal life : but unto them that are 
contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey 
unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation 
and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth 
evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile." 
(Rom. 2: 6-9.) As surely, therefore, as that faith- 
ful Christians will reach eterrial life, so surely will 
the unfaithful ones be lost. Since, therefore, it 
takes faithfulness to the end of life to reach the 
eternal home, it follows as a certainty that Jesus 
meant more than faith only when he promised eter- 
nal life to a believer. He meant those that would 
believe so strongly that they would follow him, be 
faithful to him in all his requirements until death. 
It takes just that sort of life to perfect faith so as 
to insure eternal life. 

There is something else in that passage that 
makes it certain that Jesus meant more than faith 
only. Twice we have the expression, " that who- 
soever believeth in him." The word " eis " in the 
Greek is the word that is rendered " in," the same 
word also that is rendered " into " in every pas- 
sage in which we are said to be baptized into Christ. 
So the expression "-in him" should be ".into him," 
which includes, at the very least, everything that 
is involved in conversion that puts a man where he 
has the promise* of pardon. To reach this relation- 
ship, it takes not only faith, but repentance and 
baptism also ; for without repentance no sinner 
can be pardoned, and without baptism no one is in 
Christ in the sense of pardon. Hence, in Acts 2: 
38 it takes both repentance and baptism to put 



Faith: How It Comes and What It Does. 57 

believers into Christ. It says, " Repent, and be 
baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus 
Christ [eis] for the remission of sins," which shows 
beyond a peradventure that believers cannot reach 
pardon till they repent and are baptized. Faith 
leads the sinner to repent, without which no sinner 
can be forgiven. It also leads to baptism, without 
which no one is " born of water and of the Spirit," 
and, therefore, not in the church, the kingdom of 
God, and not in Christ. Christ, therefore, meant 
much more than to simply believe that he is the 
Son of God. A man may believe that a lifetime, 
and die believing it, and be lost. Chief rulers 
among the Jews, many of them, believed this, and 
yet were not saved. " Nevertheless among the 
chief rulers also many believed on him ; but because 
of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they 
should be put out of the synagogue: for they loved 
the praise of men more than the praise of God." 
(John 12 : 42, 43.) We know they believed, because 
the divine record says so ; but their faith was 
dead and could not save. Faith is one step toward 
entering into Christ, and so important that the 
other two steps cannot and will not be taken with- 
out it. But when only that step is taken, it is 
dead and cannot save. " The devils also believe, 
and tremble," yet they are not saved, because they 
do nothing but believe ; they have passed their day 
of grace, neglected their opportunities, and are al- 
ready doomed. But living people, to whom the 
gospel is sent, can believe, repent, and be baptized ; 
and when all these steps are taken, they are fully 
in Christ, " in whom we have redemption through 



58 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

his blood, even the forgiveness of sins." (Col. 1 : 
14.) 

These passages show what a perversion is made 
of the passage in the third chapter of John, and 
what a delusion is palmed off upon* people when 
they are made to believe that Jesus meant faith only 
when he promised eternal life to him that believes. 
It is proper to say that the word " eis " does not 
always mean " into ; " sometimes it means " at," 
" to," " toward," or " in," and is often so rendered. 
But following verbs of motion, or entrance, and 
where the idea of place is involved, connected with 
such words as " going," " coming," " carrying," 
" throwing," sending," and the like, Greek lexicons 
render it by " into." The goal to be reached in 
conversion is the place where pardon, remission of 
sins, is to be found. That place is in Christ, in his 
body, the church, the kingdom of Christ and of God. 
In Christ is salvation, and in him only is salvation, 
remission of sins, to be enjoyed. Faith, repentance, 
and baptism are steps required to be taken to put 
the sinner into him. Hence, " eis," after the verbs 
" believe," " repent," and " be baptized," should be 
rendered " into," because the doing of these things 
is to lead people into Christ, where remission is 
promised. 

No one has the right to attach any more impor- 
tance to one of these steps than another. All must 
be taken ; leave any one out, and entering into 
Christ is a failure. Take all of them, and the one 
so doing is in Christ and saved from his past sins 
beyond a peradventure. So, in Acts 2: 38, "into " 
is a far better rendering for " eis " than " for." 
" Unto," as the Revised Version has it, is also far 



Faith: How It Comes and What It Does. -59 

better than " for." These explanations on the pas- 
sage quoted from John 3 afford a solution of ev- 
ery passage where salvation is promised to a be- 
liever. We have been thus particular on this pas- 
sage to free it and all others of like import from 
the delusion of justification by faith only. Ev- 
ery case of conversion found in Acts of Apostles 
was upon the very same requirements and order 
as that of the three thousand on the day of Pente- 
cost, and also in perfect agreement with the condi- 
tions of salvation imposed in records of the divine 
commission. 

We will now notice a few other cases to show 
just what sort of faith was always necessary to 
complete the matter of conversion. " Then Philip 
went down to the city of Samaria, and preached 
Christ unto them. And the people with one ac- 
cord gave heed unto those things which Philip 
spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he 
did." (Acts 8: 5, 6.) This is just as the commis- 
sion required. The preaching was to be done first 
— that is, the gospel, the glad tidings of salvation, 
was to be preached everywhere, in all the world. 
This is what Philip did at Samaria. He preached 
Christ as the Savior of sinners. To do this, he 
must preach him as the Son of God ; preach him 
in his death, burial, and resurrection. The history 
of the case shows this was done by Philip. They 
must of necessity hear, understand, and believe the 
gospel in order to be saved by it. The people with 
one accord gave heed to what he preached. They 
understood the gospel, and, by the miracles which 
Philip performed in connection with the preaching, 
they were convinced of its truth. Simon the sor- 



60 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

cerer had been for a long time bewitching them 
with sorceries, making them believe he had divine 
power ; but when Philip came and preached and 
wrought miracles by the power of God before their 
eyes, they turned away from Simon and embraced 
the truth, as thus recorded : " But when they be- 
lieved Philip preaching the things concerning the 
kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they 
were baptized, both men and women." (Acts 8: 
12.) They heard the word, they saw the miracles, 
they believed. So their faith came by hearing the 
word of God, substantiated, as it was, by miracles 
which they could plainly see were by divine power. 
They not only believed, but they were baptized. 
This done, they were in Christ and had the promise 
of remission of sins. There is nothing said about 
repentance, but there are things said that make it 
certain they did repent. They believed and did 
what Philip preached. He preached the things 
concerning the name of Jesus Christ, and we know 
that repentance is among the things that concern 
his name; for Peter, on the day of Pentecost, said: 
" Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the 
name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins." 
Also Luke, in recording the commission of Christ, 
said, in part, " that repentance and remission of 
sins should be preached in his [Christ's] name 
among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." In 
preaching the things concerning the name of Christ, 
Philip, therefore, had to preach repentance, which 
he most certainly did ; and as repentance is before 
baptism, the Samaritans most assuredly repented 
before they were baptized. So they perfected their 



Faith: How It Comes and What It Does. 61 

faith by repentance and baptism, just as the three 
thousand did on the day of Pentecost. 

Neither is there any other way by which a be- 
liever can so perfect his faith as to reach the prom- 
ise of pardon. Taking these three steps prepares 
the alien sinner in every way for the reception of 
remission of sin's. Through faith and repentance 
the heart and life are changed and made right ; by 
baptism the state, or relationship, is changed. 
Thus the whole man is made new ; the whole heart, 
the whole of the man — body, soul, and spirit — is 
brought into s-ubjection to the will of God. He is 
purified through his humble obedience, and he is 
in Christ, where all the promises of God meet to 
bless the obedient. Hence, the only faith that can 
save the soul is the faith that is strong enough to 
lead one through all the acts of obedience that stand 
between the sinner and the promise of pardon. 

In the same chapter we find Philip directed to 
the Ethiopian eunuch, to whom he preached the 
same gospel with the same results — a faith in the 
eunuch that led him to at once perfect his faith in 
the very same obedience the Samaritans did ; and 
he went on his way rejoicing in the precious bless- 
ings of a new-born soul in Christ. Paul preached 
the gospel at Corinth, where he had much opposi- 
tion. We have the following as the results : "And 
Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed 
on the Lord with all his house ; and many of the 
Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized." 
(Acts 18: 8.) This again shows the plainness and 
simplicity of the matter of conversion, of becoming 
Christians, when the Holy Spirit, through the apos- 
tles, did the preaching. The inventions of men 



62 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

that have crept in since, and of which the religious 
world is full to-day, were not in the way then. The 
hearing of one sermon then was sufficient to direct 
sinners into Christ the same day or the same hour 
of the night. 

It would be so now if all would lay aside the 
opinions, the doctrines, and the wisdom of men, and 
accept, preach, and practice the plain teaching of 
the Holy Spirit through inspired men, as recorded 
in the New Testament. The words of the Spirit 
preached then are still the words of God, and the 
same gospel preached then is just as much the 
power of God to save to-day as it was then. O, 
that men would be willing to trust God and his 
word, and would teach and practice it as written, 
and thus lead the people to trust the teaching of 
the Holy Spirit instead of the doctrines and com- 
mandments of men ! The matter of faith as re- 
corded in the word of God is so plain that all who 
go to the word of God for their light, instead of 
listening to what uninspired men say, will under- 
stand it. Faith is based on the word of God, and 
there is no other foundation for it. The only trou- 
ble is, so many people believe the doctrines and 
commandments of men instead of reading and be- 
lieving the word of God, so that their faith is in 
the wisdom, the doctrines, and the inventions of 
men, and not in the word of God. 



Repentance. 63 



CHAPTER VI. 



Repentance. 



The subject of repentance needs much investiga- 
tion and study in order to understand it. The first 
impressions many of us received in regard to re- 
pentance were that it consisted in much mourning 
and weeping. The denominations would have their 
protracted meetings, preach and exhort, and work 
upon the people till they would get them to come 
to the mourners' bench to be prayed for and to be 
further exhorted until it might please the Lord to 
speak peace to their souls. They were expected 
to continue this mourning, weeping, and lamenting 
for some days, or perhaps weeks, before the Lord 
would be ready to save them. Sometimes the same 
persons would be mourners at the protracted meet- 
ings for years, waiting for the Lord to get ready to 
manifest himself to them in his converting and sav- 
ing power. If a sinner went forward to seek sal- 
vation, and in a short time, in perhaps an hour or 
two, he rose shouting that he was saved, that he 
had got religion, the good old brethren would shake 
their heads in doubt as to whether his religion was 
genuine or not, and especially so if he had been 
a pretty wild sort of fellow. In this way the im- 
pression was easily made that there was no genuine 
repentance unless this mourning and crying were 



64 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

kept up for several days and nights ; at least, they 
did not regard their repentance sufficient. This 
easily made the impression that, with the people 
who carried on these meetings, a pure -article of 
repentance carried the sinner through a long siege 
of mourning, crying, and sad lamentation. 

These things, however, have extensively changed 
these days, and there are plenty of grown-up peo- 
ple to-day that never witnessed one of these old- 
fashioned, mourner's-bench, get-religion meetings. 
The get-religion idea, however, has not changed 
very materially, only that it comes about in a very 
different way. But there is no better definition 
of repentance among that class of religious people 
than was then. The only way to get a true defini- 
tion of repentance is to study the word and its gen- 
eral use in the Scriptures. To get at the meaning 
of the word in the most satisfactory way is to get 
the meaning of the Greek word that is rendered 
" repent " in our English versions. English lexi- 
cons give the meaning of words according to gen- 
eral usage among the people ; and sometimes the 
original meaning and use of words have, by reli- 
gious people, been perverted and so changed as to 
lose their original meaning. The word " repent- 
ance " has suffered much in the hands of some peo- 
ple in this way. It is especially well for all to study 
the use of words in the Scriptures, and try to deter- 
mine the sense in which any word is used there 
when we want the scriptural meaning ; and this is 
what every one ought to want. The verb " repent " 
is from the Greek word " metanoeo," which is found 
thirty-four times in the Greek Testament. The 
noun form of this word is " metanoia," and is found 



Repentance. 65 

twenty-four times in the Greek Testament. Thay- 
er's Greek and English lexicon of the New Testa- 
ment is everywhere regarded as a standard. This 
lexicon defines the verb " metanoeo," " to change 
one's mind for the better, heartily to amend, with 
abhorrence of one's past sins." The word " meta- 
noia " means much the same, except the little dif- 
ferences between defining a verb and a noun. To 
repent, therefore, involves a change of the mind, of 
the purpose or will, and to carry out this change 
by entering upon a new life, into a reformed state 
of life, and to practice upon the principles of truth 
and virtue. It culminates in a thoroughly reformed 
life to the full extent of his former wrong course of 
life. 

It is difficult to find any one word that will ex- 
press the full meaning of this Greek word in its 
fullest sense. Hence, other words are often used 
with it in expressing the full purport of that word. 
For instance, Jesus illustrates what repentance is 
by referring to the Ninevites : " The men of Nine- 
veh shall" rise in judgment with this generation, and 
shall condemn it : because they repented at the 
preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than 
Jonas is here." (Matt. 12: 41.) He uses the word 
" repent " here in its broad sense, covering the en- 
tire meaning of that word, which is an entire change 
of mind, will, or purpose. They humbled them- 
selves, they were sorry for their sins, abhorred them 
to the extent that they turned away from their sin- 
ful lives and into a better life. The record says 
regarding the matter: "And God saw their works, 
that they turned from their evil way; and God re- 
pented of the evil, that he had said that he would 
5 



66 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

do unto them ; and he did it not." (Jonah 3 : 
10.) 

Paul says : " For godly sorrow worketh repentance 
to salvation not to be repented of." (2 Cor. 7 : 10.) 
In this passage the word " repentance " does not in- 
clude sorrow, for that is specified. It is, therefore, 
not in its fullest or broadest sense here. One of 
the main things involved in repentance is a refor- 
mation of the life of a man as to the matter of be- 
havior, and the word here has that meaning in full 
force. The Corinthians did reform their lives in 
the matter of encouraging gross immorality in the 
church, and he commends them for it. A man had 
taken his father's wife, and they were allowing the 
matter to go on that way, till he wrote to them 
and stirred them up on it. They had then with- 
drawn from the man, and had thus shown them- 
selves in a more favorable light; and that is what 
their repentance, their godly sorrow, had worked. 

God, through Ezekiel, said to the Jews : " Re- 
pent, and turn yourselves from all your trans- 
gressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin." 
(Ezek. 18: 30.) Here seems to be a little tautol- 
ogy, the word " repent " and the word " turn " 
meaning nearly the same thing. The American 
Revised Version puts it : " Return ye, and turn 
yourselves," etc. We often find this sort of repe- 
tition in the Bible, likely to make things more em- 
phatic. But the passage shows that the work to 
be done by the Jews was a thorough change in 
their whole lives, involving sorrow, abhorrence for 
sin, turning from sin and entering fully into the 
service of God, which was the only thing that could 
save them from ruin. All these passages show that 



Repentance. 67 

about the same things were done by the people in 
repenting, though more words are put in some pas- 
sages to express it than in others. 

The foundation of the whole matter is that " all 
have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." 
All, therefore, must repent, must turn out of sin 
into the service of God, or be lost. Repentance, 
therefore, is exceedingly prominent in this matter. 
When John the Baptist began the work of preach- 
ing to make ready a people for the Lord, one of the 
very first things he preached was repentance. " In 
those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the 
wilderness of Judea, and saying, Repent ye : for the 
kingdom of heaven is at hand." (Matt. 3: 1, 2.) 
The Jews at that time had all gone out of the way, 
had all sinned, and none of them were ready to re- 
ceive the Son of God and become coworkers with 
him, and be ready to aid in building up the king- 
dom of heaven, which was to be the purest, most 
holy and upright body of people this world had 
ever seen. In order to be fitted for this, there must 
of necessity be a thorough reformation, a thorough 
change of purpose, of will, of the whole course of 
life that had been so long practiced by those peo- 
ple. The scribes, Pharisees, and elders of the Jews 
had all become corrupt. In the very first sermon 
of the Son of God, he said to his disciples : " Ex- 
cept your righteousness shall exceed the righteous- 
ness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no 
case enter into the kingdom of heaven." (Matt. 
5: 20.) They had turned away from the word of 
God, and were teaching and practicing instead the 
doctrines and commandments of men. 

A tremendous change had to take place in the 



68 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

hearts and lives of that sort of people before the 
Lord could accept and use them. Repentance had 
very much to do in bringing about this change ; so 
John began in earnest this work of reformation. 
When many of the Pharisees came to his baptism, 
he said to them : " O generation of vipers, who hath 
warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring 
forth therefore fruits meet for repentance." (Matt. 
3: 7, 8.) This was going at the matter in a very 
radical sort of way. It was as much as to say: 
" You must manifest better lives, or you can have 
nothing to do with the kingdom of heaven." 
" Fruits " means the course, the actions of their re- 
newed lives ; and these were to be just such as were 
intended to result from genuine repentance. So 
the ministry of John was to bring about such a 
reformation in the lives of the Jewish people as 
should fit them to be the charter members of the 
church of God and to aid in the upbuilding and 
extension of that kingdom. John made many disci- 
ples, and so did Christ and his apostles, under the 
same teaching. But as to how many of these con- 
tinued in this new life till the full establishment 
of the church, the kingdom of heaven, and were 
actually a part of it, none of us know. But that is 
just what the repentance, the thoroughly changed 
life that John preached in making ready a people 
prepared for the Lord, required. It required that 
all should continue this new life in order to be 
ready to enjoy and to be in this, the fully devel- 
oped state of the kingdom of heaven. A repent- 
ance, a reformation of life, that does not continue 
amounts to nothing. It profited the Jews nothing 
to come out of Egypt and then fall back into sin 



Repentance. 69 

and rebellion against God, and die outside of the 
promised land. It was no benefit to become disci- 
ples of John or of Christ during his personal min- 
istry, if they turned back into their old sins and 
continued in them. They were not ready for the 
kingdom when it came. 

Not only was that principle true in the prepar- 
atory state of the kingdom, but it is equally true 
in the fully developed state of it. That is the very 
sort of repentance the apostles preached under the 
last commission. They were to preach " repent- 
ance and remission of sins " to all nations, begin- 
ning at Jerusalem. This they did. Peter began it 
on the day of Pentecost, and it has never ceased 
to be preached to this day by all that preach the 
word as required. In this first sermon Peter said 
to believers that asked what to do : " Repent ; 
change your whole mode, or manner, of thinking, 
feeling, and acting." The meaning of it is : " You 
are now required to turn from your former sinful 
lives and to enter upon a new life, upon altogether 
different principles." The change to be made in re- 
pentance involves the entrance upon a better life, 
obeying different requirements and laws, in order 
to make turning away from evil result in any good ; 
for if the sinner stops when he ceases to do evil, 
and does no more than that, he will be lost. For a 
failure to go right on with the new life is itself 
a sin that will condemn, is itself disobedience. 
Hence, the new life is involved in the change that 
repentance demands. 

God, through a prophet, expresses the idea of the 
change involved in repentance, thus : " Wash you, 
make you clean; put away the evil of your doings 



70 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

from before mine eyes ; cease to do evil ; learn to 
do well ; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge 
the fatherless, plead for the widow." (Isa. 1 : 16, 
17.) This was addressed to the Jewish people 
when they were so wicked they were doomed to 
destruction unless they would speedily change their 
lives. They had gone so far their prayers could 
not be heard, unless they would change. Hence 
the language : " Wash you, make you clean." This 
involves thorough repentance that would change 
their lives, would cause an entire end to their old 
lives and turn them into new lives — to cease to do 
evil and learn to do well. 

It may be that the word " repent " does not al- 
ways cover what is said in this passage, does not 
cover all that is embraced in the full idea of wash- 
ing, making clean ; but repentance is so important 
a factor in the matter of making a sinner clean that 
it cannot be done without repentance. This is es- 
pecially true in the matter of conversion, as Peter 
used it on the day of Pentecost. He said : " Re- 
pent ye, and be baptized . . . unto the remis- 
sion of your sins." No alien sinner can possibly 
be scripturally baptized without repentance, nor is 
repentance worth anything to one that refuses to 
be baptized. 

Repentance, therefore, is so connected with the 
other acts of conversion that, without it, none of 
them can be of any avail to save the sinner. The 
same is true of all three of the acts of conversion — 
faith, repentance, and baptism. Leave any one of 
these out, and conversion is a failure. On the 
other hand, when salvation, remission of sins, is 
promised in connection with any one of these, the 



Repentance. 71 

others are necessarily implied. So, when salvation 
is promised on faith, repentance and baptism are 
both implied. Where only repentance is men- 
tioned, with remission of sins indicated, the other 
two are implied. So of baptism. The three are 
so connected, so dovetailed into each other, that 
all have to be done, or no benefit results. They 
are like a chain of three links ; drop out any one, 
and the chain is broken and useless. Repentance, 
therefore, needs to be studied in all these relations 
to fully understand it. These things show what 
delusion there was, and is, in the idea that repent- 
ance consists in long mourning or loud crying. 

True, there must be a degree of sorrow in the 
heart on account of sin, or people would never turn 
from it. This, indeed, must amount to a sort of 
abhorrence of sin and its consequences in order- 
to induce one to turn away from it. There are 
several things closely connected with sorrow that 
influence it more or less. There must be faith in 
the actual ruin and loss of soul that sin brings, and 
in the remedy the Lord has provided for sin ; and 
there must be an appreciation of God's goodness 
in providing the remedy, for we are taught that 
the goodness of God leads to repentance. All these 
things are so closely connected with repentance 
that it cannot, and will not, be exercised to success 
without them. 

No wonder, then, that repentance is such an im- 
portant item in our salvation, and that it is some- 
times represented as though that were all of it. 
In the passage in Paul's sermon at Athens, which 
says, " God now commands all men everywhere to 
repent," it seems to be implied that repentance is 



72 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

the all in all of salvation ; then turn to a passage 
in the third chapter of John, and you see that eter- 
nal life is staked on faith; then read the third chap- 
ter of 1 Peter, and you learn that baptism saves 
us. But the truth is, that all of them are so im- 
portant that no sinner can be saved if he leaves out 
any one of them. This shows the importance of 
every item God has connected with our soul's sal- 
vation, and that they are so connected that we can- 
not leave any one out and be saved. Paul shows 
the connection and importance of all the different 
items in the plan of redemption in the following: 
" For they themselves show of us what manner of 
entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned 
to God from idols to serve the living and true God." 
(1 Thess. 1: 9.) In this the whole matter of con- 
version and the Christian life were presented as if 
all were one and the same thing, so closely are 
they all thrown together. To turn to God from 
idols takes in the whole matter of conversion — 
takes in faith, repentance, and baptism — while to 
serve the living and true God covers the Christian 
life so long as we live ; and, in fact, when we con- 
sider the matter of being saved in heaven, it is one 
grand system of service from the time we believe 
the gospel till we pass out of life. 

Other difficulties also are frequently raised about 
repentance. Some put it before faith, basing it on 
such statements as that made by Mark, that Jesus, 
in his preaching, said : " Repent ye, and believe the 
gospel." (Mark 1 : 15.) But it is a fact that in 
this passage Mark was simply stating what he 
preached, without regarding the order in which the 
items came. He preached repentance and the gos- 



Repentance. 73 

pel, the good news that the kingdom of heaven 
was near. These things were both preached ; but 
the scriptural order for faith and repentance, where 
they were given to alien sinners as they were to 
be obeyed, as in the second chapter of Acts, is 
that the gospel was first preached and the resurrec- 
tion foreshadowed from the psalms of David ; and 
as he closed this part of the gospel, Peter said: 
" Therefore let all the house of Israel know as- 
suredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom 
ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." (Acts 
2: 36.) The expression, "know assuredly," is just 
as strong a demand for faith as if he had said: 
" Believe with all your heart on Jesus as Lord." 
This believing was the first step for the sinner after 
hearing. They did believe, and, under the influ- 
ence of that faith, they asked what they should 
do. The answer was, " Repent, and be baptized," 
thus showing that the order of these conditions of 
pardon was (1) faith, (2) repentance, and (3) bap- 
tism. Any other order for these conditions would 
be unscriptural, and would destroy the effect of 
them. 

Another trouble that is sometimes raised on re- 
pentance is that God gives it, by which some un- 
derstand and claim that God works it in the heart 
of the sinner, and for him, and that he has not 
the power to exercise it himself. Peter said of 
Christ : " Him hath God exalted with his right hand 
to be a Prince and a Savior, for to give repentance 
to Israel, and forgiveness of sins." (Acts 5 : 31.) 
Then also it is said that repentance was granted 
to the Gentiles. (Acts 11: 18.) These passages 
simply give, grant, to sinners the privilege of re- 



74 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

penting of their sins, that they may be saved. The 
matter of being saved by obeying the gospel is 
all a gracious privilege granted that all may obey 
it and thereby be saved. 

If we put any other construction on these and 
other like passages, we make them contradict the 
many plain passages in which sinners are com- 
manded to repent — that is, God gives the privilege 
of repentance and commands them to exercise it. 
This perfectly harmonizes all these passages, while 
the other construction makes them contradict each 
other. " God . . . commandeth all men every- 
where to repent." This passage cannot possibly be 
reconciled with the idea that God works, exercises, 
repentance in and for the sinner ; but the idea that 
repentance unto life is a privilege granted the sin- 
ner, that he may exercise it and be saved, easily 
harmonizes with all the commands to the sinner 
to repent. By a proper study and understanding 
of the various passages in which repentance occurs, 
it becomes a very plain matter, and something that 
can be quickly exercised, so far as becoming a 
Christian is concerned. ' Three thousand heard, be- 
lieved, repented, and were baptized, and thus be- 
came Christians the same day. 

But Christians need to repent every time they 
sin, to the end of their lives. They must keep their 
souls pure through life, to be sure of heaven. Re- 
pentance, then, must be kept up through life. 



Baptism: What is Itf 75 



CHAPTER VII. 



Baptism: What Is It? 



This is a much-disputed, perverted, and misrep- 
resented subject, and needs much careful study to 
reach the whole truth upon it. There is not a 
prominent feature connected with that ordinance 
about which there are not differing and conflicting 
theories. The ordinance of baptism was never in- 
troduced till the days of John the Baptist. He was 
the first man that ever preached or practiced it by 
divine authority. We, therefore, need not look to 
the Old Testament for light on it ; it is not men- 
tioned at all in that book. Not one man was bap- 
tized in those days by God's command. 

Hence, we have to look to the New Testament 
for light on that subject. Just one word is used 
to express that ordinance, the Greek word " bap- 
tidzo ; " and since the New Testament was written 
in Greek, we have to appeal to the Greek to learn 
the meaning of that word. This Greek word is 
found about eighty times in one form and another 
in the Greek Testament. The noun " baptisma " 
is found twenty-two times, while the noun " bap- 
tismos " is found four times ; and the word " bap- 
tistees," as expressive of the work John did, is 
found fourteen times. This word is no part of the 
proper name of John, but simply expresses his work. 
It means that John was a baptizer. It does not 



76 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

mean that he was a Baptist, in the modern denomi- 
national sense of that word. Being the first man 
that ever baptized people by the authority of God 
on this earth, he was called "John the Baptizer." 
The definition of these words is plainly given in 
the Greek lexicons, and may be as plainly and as 
definitely learned as any words in the Greek lan- 
guage. Every standard Greek lexicon on earth de- 
fines " baptidzo " as meaning to immerse. Among 
all these there is not one that renders it by 
" sprinkle " or " pour." 

The Greek language as spoken in the days of the 
New Testament was sufficiently full of words to 
express definitely and specifically any and every ac- 
tion ever ascribed to baptism. The word " ran- 
tidzo " means definitely and positively to sprinkle, 
and is used four times in the Greek Testament, but 
never one time used to express baptism. There is 
also a word in Greek that means to pour, the word 
" ekkeo ; " and this word is found eighteen times 
in the Greek Testament, but never one time applied 
to this ordinance. Now is it not strange that nei- 
ther one of these, though used in, the New Testa- 
ment, was ever applied to the ordinance of baptism, 
if, as so many claim, sprinkling and pouring are 
scriptural? While this ordinance is more than one 
hundred times expressed by " baptidzo," " bap- 
tisma," and the like, in not one single case is it 
ever expressed by the word " ekkeo " or " rantidzo." 
Is not this very significant? Surely, if the word 
" baptidzo " meant, or could possibly be made to 
mean, " sprinkle " or " pour," or both, these words 
would have been used a few times, at least, to ex- 
press that ordinance. That would at least have 



Baptism: What is It? 77 

settled the fact that sprinkling and pouring are 
scriptural actions, or modes of baptism, as they are 
so often said to be to-day. But, instead of that, 
words that are universally admitted to mean im- 
mersion are more than a hundred times used to ex- 
press that ordinance ; while these other words that 
do specifically mean to sprinkle and pour are never, 
even one single time, used to express that ordi- 
nance. 

These are certainly significant facts. Who can 
satisfactorily explain these facts so as to show that 
the New Testament actually teaches sprinkling and 
pouring as baptism? The man that can and will 
do that will certainly be put down as a hero. We 
have before us quotations from thirty-four Greek 
lexicons, collected by Brother J. W. Shepherd from 
some of the leading libraries of the world, every 
one of which puts " dip," " immerse," as the mean- 
ing of the word " baptidzo." Among these are the 
works of some of the most renowned lexicographers 
the world has ever produced ; and, to a man, they say 
it means to immerse. It is a fact that ancient 
church historians testify that in the first centuries 
of the Christian era immersion was the universal 
practice among the churches, that the first case of 
affusion was not till about the middle of the third 
century. In that case it was done on account of 
severe illness on the part of the one desiring to 
be baptized, and the water was poured all over him. 
The practice of immersion, according to historians, 
was almost universal for over twelve centuries. 

We have the following statment in Zell's Ency- 
clopedia : " In the time of the apostles the form of 
baptism was very simple. The person to be bap- 



78 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

tized was dipped in a river or vessel, with the words 
which Christ had ordered, and, to express more 
fully his change of character, generally adopted a 
new name. The Greek Church retained this cus- 
tom ; but the Western Church adopted, in the thir- 
teenth century, the mode of baptism by sprinkling, 
which has been continued by the Protestants, the 
Baptists only excepted. The introduction of this 
mode of baptism was owing to the great inconven- 
ience which arose from the immersion of the whole 
body in the northern climates of Europe." (Vol- 
ume L, page 216.) According to this, the practice 
of the whole religious world was immersion for 
over twelve centuries. The Western Church here 
spoken of was the Roman Catholic Church, with 
headquarters at Rome ; the Eastern Church was the 
Greek Church, with headquarters at Constantinople. 
So the Roman Catholics are the authors of sprin- 
kling for baptism ; while Protestant churches that 
have directly or indirectly come out from them 
have nearly all brought sprinkling with them, and 
are tenaciously clinging to it to this day. So it 
may be safely said that modern sprinkling was 
either inherited or borrowed from the Catholics. 
But the Greek Church, including the Greek-speak- 
ing world, who understand the Greek language bet- 
ter than any people on earth, have always prac- 
ticedimmersion, as they do to this day. 

It is universally admitted that in the days of the 
apostles immersion was practiced everywhere; that 
the first instances of sprinkling or pouring were on 
account of severe illness, without a particle of claim 
that God ordained it — it was purely by the wisdom 
of men ; that, later on, the difficulties of immersion 



Baptism: What is It? 79 

being considerable in cold climates, sprinkling was 
gradually introduced, until finally it was fully au- 
thorized by the Catholic Church, without one word 
of claim that God had ordained it. So it is a mat- 
ter of undoubted truth, both from divine and hu- 
man authority, that, during the apostolic age, im- 
mersion prevailed as God's authority and appoint- 
ment. The very fact, therefore, that nothing else 
prevailed till after the apostles passed away, shows 
beyond a peradventure that sprinkling and pouring, 
which started many years after the last apostle died, 
are purely of human origin, since no inspired man 
ever left one word of record in their favor. 

Is it not strange that such a large proportion of 
the religious world are accepting, practicing, and re- 
lying upon a human invention in the matter of bap- 
tism, and at the same time openly rejecting what 
God has ordained? In thus rejecting God's author- 
ity, they are not only setting God aside, but they 
are making void his commandments by the doc- 
trines and commandments of men. Not only that, 
but they are deluding and deceiving the rising gen- 
eration and all untaught people, and are leading 
them to trust in the wisdom of men instead of the 
power, wisdom, and authority of God, and of Christ, 
who died that a perishing world might live. In 
leading others into error, they are laying themselves 
liable to the doom passed by the Savior, saying: 
" It were better for him that a millstone were hanged 
about his neck, and that he were drowned in the 
depth of the sea." (Matt. 18: 6.) It is an awful 
thing to cause men to turn away from the word of 
God, and lead them into man's wisdom instead of it. 

We have shown from the meaning of the word 



80 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

that the baptism of the New Testament is immer- 
sion, and that sprinkling and pouring are purely 
and only human inventions. Now we wish to 
show from the history of baptisms recorded in the 
New Testament that all the incidents connected 
with them are precisely such as would only be nec- 
essary in cases of immersion. 

The first cases of baptism that ever occurred on 
this earth are those performed by John the Bap- 
tist — more correctly, "John the Immerser," which is 
as it stands in some versions. I have before me 
two versions that render it that way. That is pre- 
cisely what the word means, and we put that down 
as a divine item, showing just exactly what John 
did in performing the ordinance of baptism. Sup- 
pose it had been " rantistees " instead of " bap- 
tistees ; " then it would have been "John the Sprin- 
kler," and no scholar could 'have called it in ques- 
tion. In that case we would have divine author- 
ity for sprinkling instead of immersion, as we now 
have it; and if that was actually what he did, is 
it not strange that the Lord did not put it that way ? 
Yet he did not ; but he put a word that makes his 
own word say that John was an immerser. This 
unmistakably shows that John was not a sprinkler. 
If there was nothing else said of John's baptism, 
this one word would forever settle the question that 
immersion was what he did. But this is not all. 
" Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judea, 
and all the region round about Jordan, and were 
baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins." 
(Matt. 3: 5, 6.) Here we have it that he baptized, 
immersed, the people in Jordan, which is a river 
of water. Mark puts it: " In the river of Jordan." 



Baptism: What is II? 81 

This harmonizes fully with immersion ; for in per- 
forming it the candidate is taken into the water, 
and while in the water he is immersed in the wa- 
ter. This gives a natural, necessary item in the 
matter of immersion ; but in sprinkling or pouring, 
such procedure would be not only unnecessary, but 
awkward, bunglesome, and inexpedient. In sprink- 
ling, it would be useless and unnecessary to go 
to a river at all. A pitcher of water would be suf- 
ficient to sprinkle a whole meetinghouse full of peo- 
ple, and no earthly need of going to a river. But 
to immerse a man you have to go to a river, or pro- 
vide a vessel or pool of sufficient size to put the 
candidate in the water so that his whole body would 
be under water. This is why it was so convenient 
for John to do his preaching near the river, where 
there was plenty of water. But none of these things 
would be necessary to sprinkling. 

These items and circumstances make it so nat- 
ural and easy for John to say, as in the Revised 
Version : " I baptize you in water " — that is, " I im- 
merse you in water." This is practical, and what 
he really said he would do. But suppose he had 
said, " I sprinkle you in water." Then he would 
have expressed an impractical and difficult thing; 
for the expression requires him to handle the per- 
son, not the water. How could he get the person 
in shape to sprinkle in drops in water? But as 
John said it, " I immerse you in water," it is per- 
fectly easy, and exactly what he said he was. do-- 
ing. It is so nice and fitting to take hold of the 
person and lay him gently down in the water and 
raise him up out of it. This, therefore, is another 
6 



82 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

circumstance that plainly and unmistakably indi- 
cates immersion. 

Another case in the history of the baptisms of 
the New Testament is the following: " Then cometh 
Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be bap- 
tized of him. . . . And Jesus, when he was 
baptized, went up straightway out of the water." 
(Matt. 3: 13-16.) So Jesus went to Jordan to be 
baptized ; and as soon as it was done, he came up 
out of the water. That shows that, in order to be 
baptized, he went to the river, went down into the 
water, was baptized — immersed — in the water, and 
came up out of it. All of these things would be 
unnecessary and meaningless if only a little water 
was sprinkled on him, but in immersion all these 
things are absolutely necessary. The very man- 
ner in which these items are recorded prove be- 
yond a peradventure that Jesus was immersed; for 
he perfectly did his Father's will in all things, and 
one item of that was that he should be baptized. 
To be baptized is to be immersed. So in this Je- 
sus has given us an example, that we should follow 
his steps. Every one that loves Jesus loves to con- 
template what he did. We love to contemplate his 
trip from Galilee to Jordan to be baptized ; we love 
to consider the scene of his burial in a watery grave, 
and rising therefrom to hear the Father confess 
him as his Son, and to be the recipient of the Holy 
Spirit, and to enter upon the wonderful work he 
had come to accomplish. It ought to be a matter 
of the greatest joy to follow his example in this 
Heaven-ordained appointment of baptism. 

It brings much consolation to the writer of this 
to know that, more than fifty-eight years ago, he 



Baptism: What is Itf 83 

did as his Lord and Master requires in this matter; 
that he went to the river, then went down into the 
water, and was buried with him by baptism into 
death, and was raised up with him to enter upon a 
new life. There is something lovely in follow- 
ing the beautiful example of our dear Savior. 
Whether we go to a river or a pool, we follow his 
example in this divine ordinance. 

But, again, John baptized " in Enon near to Salim, 
because there was much water there." It does 
not say, as some attempt to explain, that he was 
there because there was plenty of water to drink, 
but that he was baptizing there because there was 
much water. Immersion demands much water; 
sprinkling does not. There would be no meaning 
in the allusion to " much water " if only sprinkling 
was done there. Thus the whole history of John's 
baptism, so far as given, shows unmistakably that 
he immersed the people — just what the word itself 
literally means. 

Next in the history of the performance of bap- 
tism, we notice the case of the Ethiopian eunuch. 
The record runs thus : "And as they went on their 
way, they came unto a certain water : and the 
eunuch said, See, here is water ; what doth hinder 
me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou be- 
lievest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he 
answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is 
the Son of God. And he commanded the chariot 
to stand still : and they went down both into the 
water, both Philip and the eunuch ; and he bap- 
tized him. And when they were come up out of the 
water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, 
that the eunuch saw him no more : and he went on 



84 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

his way rejoicing." (Acts 8: 36-39.) In the Re- 
vised Version verse 37 is left out ; but that has noth- 
ing to do with the act that was performed in the 
baptism. The history is, they came unto a certain 
water; then they went down into the water; and 
while in the water, Philip baptized him. Why all 
this going down into, and coming up out of, the 
water, if only a few drops were sprinkled on him? 
There could be no meaning in it if that were all that 
was done. But understand the word " baptize " to 
mean " immerse," and then it is at once plain ; for 
all these were necessary to enable Philip to perform 
that act. So in the history of every case of baptism 
in the New Testament. 

Now we will examine some figurative allusions 
to baptism. We have one of these in the Gospel 
recorded by John : "Jesus answered, Verily, verily, 
I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water 
and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom 
of God." (John 3 : 5.) Almost all, or quite all, the 
commentaries we have ever seen, also the creeds, 
confessions of faith, religious writers, and promi- 
nent preachers we have ever heard of, admit that 
" born of water " refers to water baptism. That 
being true, then to be " born of water " requires 
immersion ; for nothing short of immersion could 
represent, in any sense, a birth. Every man, there- 
fore, that admits that this passage refers to water 
baptism admits that baptism, as to its action, is im- 
mersion. Any other view of it destroys the mean- 
ing of the Savior's language; for as certainly as it 
refers to water baptism, so certainly does it mean 
immersion, and that is the point we wish to estab- 
lish in the present use of it. We need not make 



Baptism: What is It? 85 

any argument on the claim that the word " water " 
in this passage means literal water. The word so 
rendered is found seventy-nine times in the Greek 
Testament, and in every instance is rendered " wa- 
ter;" and it is a known fact that water baptism 
is the only use made of water in the new cove- 
nant. So the word " water " is literal here. These 
considerations forever settle the claim that this pas- 
sage perfectly harmonizes with immersion as the 
meaning of the Greek verb " baptidzo," and estab- 
lishes it as the meaning attached to that word by 
the Savior. 

We now proceed to show that Paul, the great 
apostle to the Gentiles, understood it the same way. 
To the Romans he said : " We were buried there- 
fore with him through baptism into death : that 
like as Christ was raised from the dead through the 
glory of the Father, so we also might walk in new- 
ness of life." (Rom. 6: 4.) No man can venture 
to say that Paul did not understand what baptism 
is, as abundantly inspired as he was, and he abun- 
dantly sustains immersion by. putting baptism as 
a burial and resurrection. To the Colossians he 
also said : " Having been buried with him in bap- 
tism, wherein ye were also raised with him through 
faith in the working of God, who raised him from 
the dead." (Col. 2 • 12.) It would be folly to make 
any special argument on the meaning of these two 
passages, since they so plainly express the very 
thing we are contending for — that baptism is im- 
mersion, which puts people under the water and 
raises them out again. But sprinkling, as every 
one knows, cannot possibly represent either burial 
or resurrection. There is no respect in which a few 



86 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

drops of water sprinkled on the head can represent 
these significant actions ; but almost the whole re- 
ligious world recognizes immersion as baptism, and 
that it was practiced by John and the apostles, and 
that forever cuts off everything that differs from 
it. If John, Christ, and the apostles practiced im- 
mersion, there has been no power on earth since 
that had any right to change it. 

What John, Christ, and the apostles practiced is 
absolutely safe and right, while nothing else is. 
Why people should turn away from that which ev- 
erybody says is right, and accept that which has no 
divine warrant, is passing strange. There is not a 
Greek scholar on earth that will claim that " bap- 
tidzo " means to sprinkle. No Greek scholar will 
translate the word " baptidzo " by " sprinkle "in any 
passage in the New Testament. There is abso- 
lutely no authority to so render that word. Yet 
there are millions practicing it, and relying upon 
sprinkling as though that were the very thing God 
ordained, although there is nothing but human au- 
thority for it. Salvation is too sacred a thing to 
trust to human wisdom. A mere matter of conven- 
ience should cut no figure when the salvation of the 
soul is at stake, nor should one single human inven- 
tion take the place of the word of God. 

The Lord's word is so plain that all who will can 
understand it. But the will is the trouble. People 
prefer something else, and do that which they pre- 
fer. If all were willing to take God at his word, do 
what he says, and trust his promise for the bless- 
ing, the religious world might soon be one, and di- 
visions and animosities be forever buried. 
• In reality, all religious people do admit that im- 



Baptism: What is It? 87 

mersion is baptism, but say it is not the only bap- 
tism. This was the position of N. L. Rice, in the 
debate with A. Campbell, at Lexington, Ky., in No- 
vember, 1843. In fact, almost all scholars of all 
pedobaptist denominations have all the time ad- 
mitted immersion to be valid baptism. This much 
admitted virtually denies sprinkling, since the word 
"baptize" expresses one specific act; and to admit 
that one act to be immersion is to deny that sprin- 
kling is in it. No one word of specific action 
can express both immersion and sprinkling; for 
both these are specific acts, and are so radically dif- 
ferent that " baptidzo," which means specifically 
to immerse, cannot possibly express sprinkling. 
Catholics, the authors of sprinkling, do not claim 
that sprinkling is taught in the New Testament ; 
they simply claim the Catholic Church authorized 
sprinkling. There is, therefore, not one word of 
authority for sprinkling instead of immersion ; and 
no church on earth has the right to change, add to, 
or take from the word of God. If they do, it is 
at the peril of their souls, as specified in the last 
chapter of , Revelation. The matter of sprinkling 
and pouring as baptism is purely of human origin, 
and stands only upon human authority — and papal 
authority, at that. Christ used a word to express 
that ordinance that is universally admitted to mean 
" immerse " by scholars. It is impossible, therefore, 
for it to mean " sprinkle." Every one, therefore, 
that accepts sprinkling is building upon the sand, 
and is taking things into his own hands instead of 
submitting himself to Christ in all things. 



88 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



Why Should People Be Baptized? 

Very few items among all the conditions of sal- 
vation have been answered in ways more contradic- 
tory than the above. Why it is so, would be hard 
to explain. The plan of salvation has been pro- 
vided for man through our Lord Jesus Christ, and 
has been offered to men upon certain conditions. 
Some of these conditions belong especially to alien 
sinners, to bring them out of sin and into the king- 
dom of Christ, the church of God ; while others, and 
just as important ones, belong to the child of God, 
to perfect him in the Christian life, and thus prepare 
him for heaven. Men in their sins are not ready 
for heaven, and could not be happy in heaven if 
there. It requires preparation for sinful, worldly- 
minded people, to make them ready for the society 
and enjoyments of the home of the soul. In the first 
place, the alien sinner needs a decided preparation 
for the high and holy relationships of the church 
on earth ; then he needs much and continued train- 
ing in the church to prepare him for the still purer 
home in glory. The alien sinner must go through a 
change, or preparation, of heart ; of life, or behavior ; 
and of state, or relationship. These changes are 
accomplished through obedience to the first princi- 
ples of the gospel — faith, repentance, and baptism. 

We have considered the first two* of these — faith 



Why Should People Be Baptized? 89 

and repentance. Now we are considering baptism, 
and the part it is to perform in completing a union 
with God and Christ. »In other words, what is bap- 
tism intended to accomplish in the matter of sal- 
vation? Many tell us that it has nothing at all to 
do with salvation, that it is a nonessential, that peo- 
ple can be saved as well without it as with it, and 
such like. This is a question that can never be set- 
tled by the opinions of men, nor by the doctrines 
or commandments of men. If ever settled at all, it 
must be settled by the word of God. It is worth 
nothing to settle any religious question by what 
men say. The word of the Lord, just as he gave it, 
and that alone, can settle things. 

So, in the first place, we ask : Whence came bap- 
tism, who established it, and by what authority was 
it given? Jesus demanded of the chief priests and 
elders : " The baptism of John, whence was it? from 
heaven, or of men? And they reasoned with them- 
selves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven ; he 
will say unto us, Why did ye not then believe him? 
But if we shall say, Of men; we fear the people; 
for all hold John as a prophet. And they answered 
Jesus, and said, We cannot tell." (Matt. 21 : 25-27.) 
When they came to think over the matter, they 
found they were between two difficulties, and de- 
cided they would take neither horn of the dilemma, 
so they pleaded ignorance. They were satis- 
fied, if they said John's baptism was from heaven, 
Jesus would say : " In admitting that, you admit 
that John was all right ; and he testified of me ; why 
do ye not believe him then? " They did not intend 
to admit that Jesus was the Son of God, and did not 
want to be put to the test. They acted sharply, but 



90 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

were very wicked in closing their eyes and ears 
against the truth. 

There seems to be no certainty in the minds of 
the people to-day as to the origin of baptism. In 
fact, when men say that it is a nonessential, they 
either say it is from men or that God himself has 
established a meaningless and foolish institution. 
It would really be charging God with folly to ad- 
mit that he ordained baptism and then call it a 
" nonessential." What good could come either to 
God or to men from a nonessential? In fact, it is 
worse than folly if a nonessential. It causes a 
world full of division, strife, and contention, and, 
after all, is of no value whatever in the matter of 
salvation. It is like a fifth wheel to a wagon ; there 
is no place for it, no use for it, nothing it can do, 
and yet everlastingly in the way, and causing trou- 
ble, bitterness, and unending annoyance. There 
is nothing else connected with the whole gospel plan 
of salvation that is causing greater disturbance ; and 
yet no good to result from it to any one, since, if 
nonessential, there is no good in it. Why cumber- 
eth it the ground if there be no good in it, and yet 
so. much apparent evil? 

But there must be some mistake about its being 
a nonessential. In order to settle this question, its 
origin must be settled. It originated with the 
New Testament. Not a word was said about it in 
the Old Testament. It originated with John. Did 
he invent it by his own wisdom, or did God have a 
hand in it? If it was invented by John, then, sure 
enough, it is of no value. If it was ordained of 
God, then it is next to blasphemy to say of it: 
"There is nothing in it." Could God have made 



Why Should People Be Baptized? 91 

such a mistake as to ordain a thing that could do 
no possible good, and yet produce so much evil? 
People surely do not realize the extent of their folly 
in laying such things to the charge of a merciful and 
all-wise God ; for there is no mistake in the claim 
that he ordained it. It is said : " The word of God 
came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilder- 
ness. And he came into all the country about Jor- 
dan, preaching the baptism of repentance for [into] 
the remission of sins." (Luke 3: 2, 3.) The word 
that John preached, therefore, was the word of God. 
The word that came from God was his word. The 
word of man comes only from men. Besides, John 
" was a man sent from God." (John 1 : 6.) Would 
God call a man and send him to prepare the way 
for his own Son, give him a message to proclaim, 
and say of that message that it is " for [into] the 
remission of sins," and yet the very message he 
gives him to proclaim be of no value to man? Peo- 
ple had better think a little before they place the 
word " nonessential " with it, for that cannot be 
said of anything that helps to put people " into the 
remission of sins." It were better for a man that 
his tongue should cleave to the roof of his mouth 
than that he should so speak of an ordinance of 
God. So important was this ordinance that it was 
said of those who rejected it, that they " rejected the 
counsel of God against themselves " in so doing. 
(Luke 7: 30.) 

It is also said of John that not a greater prophet 
was born of woman than he ; and, besides, he was 
filled with the Spirit of God from his birth. Bap- 
tism, therefore, was part of the message John was 
sent to proclaim. It was the word of God pro- 



92 Gospel Lessons and Life History.' 

claimed by the Holy Spirit through one of the great- 
est prophets that had ever risen. It is terribly dan- 
gerous to any man to call that word a " nonessen- 
tial." 

But, in the next place, what was the origin of 
the baptism with which we have to do now, the 
baptism of the fully developed state of the king- 
dom of Christ ? Jesus himself authorized this after 
he had been crucified, buried, and raised again from 
the dead ; and, besides, he prefaced the words that 
authorized this baptism with these words : "All au- 
thority hath been given unto me in heaven and on 
earth. Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all 
the nations, baptizing them into the name of the 
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." 
(Matt. 28: 18, 19.) 

When all authority in heaven and on earth are 
involved in an ordinance, what more can be said? 
Who and where is the man that is able to set all 
this authority aside, and say of what this authority 
has appointed that it is naught — a nonessential ? 
It is an awful thing for men to presume to do "such 
a thing. It had been better for such that they had 
never been born. 

W^hen the above commission was given to the 
apostles, it was not only a positive command to the 
apostles to baptize the people, but it also involved 
a positive command to the people to be baptized. 
This is plainly shown by the apostles in executing 
this command as given to them. Peter, on the very 
first occasion of executing this divine commission, 
commanded the three thousand to be baptized. 
There is not a more positive command in the New 
Testament. He also commanded the house of Cor- 



Why Should People Be Baptized? 93 

nelius to be baptized. Thus, on the occasions of 
the first preaching of the gospel to both Jews and 
Gentiles, the Holy Spirit positively commanded the 
people to be baptized. The great commission of 
the Son of God had a twofold bearing. Directly, 
the command was to the apostles to disciple the na- 
tions, baptizing them ; but, indirectly, it required 
that they command the people to be baptized, in or- 
der that they might carry out the command, which 
was binding on them, to do the baptizing. They 
could not do this till the people were ready to be 
baptized. These things show that this ordinance 
was full of divine authority in every way you may 
view it. God through Christ ordained it by all the 
authority of. heaven, and upon precisely the same 
authority required all that would be saved to sub- 
mit to it. 

How strange that any one that believes the Bible 
to be an inspired book should ever even insinuate 
that this ordinance is of no value in man's salva- 
tion ! There is precisely the same authority for 
people to be baptized that there is for them to be- 
lieve and repent. If either faith or repentance be 
refused, ruin is inevitable. If baptism be refused, 
the one that does it will die out of God, out of Christ 
and the Holy Spirit, and without the promise of re- 
mission of sins. All, therefore, that reject this or- 
dinance reject Christ, reject God, reject the Holy 
Spirit, and are without hope and without God in 
the world. Christ is nowhere said to have become 
the author of salvation to those that reject, refuse 
to obey, him. All that reject baptism, reject — dis- 
obey — Christ in so doing, and they cut themselves 
off from the promise of salvation through him — cut 



94 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

themselves off from the blood of Christ and all of 
its benefits by refusing to come into Christ, in whom 
they have the promise of remission through his 
blood. The Jewish people had to go where God re- 
corded his name to make their offerings in order to 
be accepted of him. So people have to come into 
the name of Christ in order to be saved ; for God is 
" in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself." 

Obedience, therefore, to God and to Christ is, or 
should be, the leading motive, or purpose, people 
should have in being baptized. Obedience to his 
Father was the motive that led Christ to be bap- 
tized. When he came to John to be baptized of 
him, John would have excused himself, saying: " I 
have need to be baptized of thee." "And Jesus an- 
swering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for 
thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness." 
(Matt. 3: 15.) 

But some may say: What means so much obedi- 
ence? Is God a tyrant, that he has to be so im- 
plicitly obeyed. Nay, verily ! Just the reverse. 
God is full of love and mercy, and it is by his grace 
we will be saved, if saved at all. "All have sinned, 
and come short of the glory of God." They cannot 
be saved in their sins. They will have to come out 
from their sins, cease to sin, and become holy, in 
order to reach heaven. The commands of God re- 
quire certain acts of obedience, which bring men 
out of sin, out of sinful lives, and into harmony 
with God; to cause them to love God, to love Christ, 
to love the truth, which makes them holy, and to 
perfect the righteousness of God in them. Without 
holiness, Paul says, no man shall see the Lord. 
These strong and positive commands of God, there- 



Why Should People Be Baptized? 95 

fore, are intended for man's good, not simply to 
have him do things because God has the authority 
to command and to be obeyed. See what the com- 
mands and promises of God did for Abraham — how 
they took him from idolatry and made him one of 
the best men the world ever saw. It was his faith 
and obedience that made him thus pure and holy 
and good. Obedience to the gospel of Christ makes 
people pure and good to-day. Christ " gave him- 
self for us, that he might redeem us from all in- 
iquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, 
zealous of good works." (Tit. 2: 14.) In all our 
obedience to the gospel, there is no one act that sub- 
jugates the whole being of man more thoroughly 
to the will of God than baptism. In that we walk 
wholly by faith, not by sight, in submitting the 
whole soul and body to him that commanded it. 
This sort of submission to the will of God, having 
already submitted in the matters of faith and re- 
pentance, completes our preparation for pardon, 
takes us out of the kingdom of Satan and puts us 
into Christ, placing us where we can trust the prom- 
ise which says : " In whom we have redemption 
through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins." 
Peter also, writing to those who had become Chris- 
tians, says : " Seeing ye have purified your souls in 
obeying the truth through the Spirit unto un- 
feigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one 
another with a pure heart fervently." (1 Pet. 1 : 
22.) So, instead of obedience to the gospel being 
tyrannical, it is the very thing, and the only thing, 
that can purify us and fit us for pardon. This is 
why none can be saved who obey not the gospel, 
and why such shall be eternally lost. (See 2 Thess. 



96 ' Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

1 : 8, 9.) It is God's grace that saves, but it does 
it through obedience to the gospel of his grace. 
This is the explanation of the command : " Repent, 
and be baptized ... in the name of Jesus 
Christ for [into] the remission of sins." In this 
the command and the promise are closely connected 
together. Those people, being already believers, 
are commanded also to " repent, and be baptized." 
These acts are the end of the command to the peo- 
ple. This obedience was to put them into remis- 
sion of sins by putting them into Christ, in whom 
is remission. 

Many handle this passage so as to make it appear 
that the expression, " for the remission of sins," is 
part of the command to the sinner — something he 
is to obey. Remission of sins never was a com- 
mand. It is something no sinner can obey. He can- 
not forgive his own sins, but he can obey the com- 
mands that place him where God promises to par- 
don. There never was a greater mistake made 
than to turn this precious promise of remission of 
sins out of the hands of God and put it into the 
hands of the sinner. It entirely disarranges salva- 
tion by grace, and makes it something the sinner 
can do for himself. O, that people would allow 
God's divine arrangements to stand as he has placed 
them ! 

But this rich and cheering promise of remission 
of sins is by no means all that is promised to those 
that obey the gospel. The blessings of being in 
Christ are many and precious. This divine rela- 
tionship, with all its attendant blessings, is se- 
cured through a humble obedience to the gospel of 
Christ. " If any man be in Christ, he is a new crea- 



Why Should People Be Baptized? 97 

ture ; old things are passed away ; behold, all things 
are become new " — new life, new purposes, new as- 
pirations, new hopes, new enjoyments, new associa- 
tions ; permitted also to sit together in heavenly 
places in Christ. In him, we are heirs of God and 
joint heirs with Christ. Those who come into 
Christ enjoy the blessings of dying in him, sleep- 
ing in him after death, and of rising from the dead 
among the first at the last day. Indeed, the, bless- 
ings to be enjoyed by those who come into Christ 
and live in him are more than we can undertake to 
mention. So, while we enjoy in all its richness the 
promise of remission of sins on coming into Christ, 
let us by no means overlook or fail to enjoy the 
almost innumerable other blessings we reach 
through the same obedience that brings us to the 
promise of remission of sins. Let no one blessing 
overshadow or in any wise lessen the value and im- 
portance of others. 

These things show very forcibly some of the 
blessings that are ours when we enter into Christ. 
In a word, when we obey the gospel, one step of 
which is baptism, we are where all spiritual bless- 
ings are promised us, being in him. Any man 
properly taught in the gospel plan of salvation will 
understand just when he can claim the promise of 
pardon. But people may be wrongly taught as to 
when the Lord will pardon, and think they have it 
before baptism ; yet they may be so impressed that 
they are commanded of God to be baptized that 
they may do it purely to do God's will. In that 
case the Lord will not fail to fulfill his promise to 
an obedient servant. God fulfilled all his promises 
to Abraham, some of which he did not understand 

7 



98 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

for years after they were made, and died without 
understanding some of them; but he understood 
what God commanded him to do, and did it faith- 
fully, and was abundantly blessed. As Christians, 
we are enjoying blessings in Christ to-day that were 
promised to Abraham, which he never understood ; 
yet he obeyed God's commands to him, and was 
blessed through life in his obedience as few men 
have ever been blessed. The highest duty of man 
is to do what God says do, and because God says 
it, and in full faith trust his promises, whether he 
fully understands when and how they will all be 
fulfilled or not. 

There was never purer obedience rendered to God 
on this earth than when Jesus was baptized because 
he knew it was his Father's will. Hence, obedience, 
submission to the will of God, is the purpose we 
should have in doing all that God has required of 
us. If we will, he will never forget to bestow any 
blessing he has promised. Obedience to God, there- 
fore, should be our chief purpose when God com- 
mands. Baptism was one of the items embraced 
when Jesus said : " Not every one that saith unto 
me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of 
heaven ; but he that doeth the will of my Father 
which is in heaven." So, whether we contemplate 
baptism for, in order to, unto, or into the remis- 
sion of sins, let all be sure to remember that it is 
the command of God, and that all the authority of 
heaven rests upon it; also, that it is inseparably 
connected with faith and repentance, which precede 
it, and that salvation, remission of sins, is a prom- 
ise that follows it. In fact, all these — faith, repent- 
ance, baptism, and remission of sins — are so con- 



Why Should People Be Baptized? 99 

# 
nected that the last mentioned cannot be reached 
unless the other three precede it. 

We want to repeat and emphasize a few points 
we have made in this chapter. First, people should 
be baptized because God commands them to do so, 
with all the authority in heaven and on earth to 
back it. Secondly, people should be baptized be- 
cause it takes obedience to the gospel, of which bap- 
tism is a part, to purify the soul and fit people for 
pardon, and make it just for God to justify, to for- 
give and save them. In the third place, people 
ought to be baptized because it, preceded by faith 
and repentance, also parts of the obedience of the 
gospel, puts them into Christ, in whom not only re- 
mission of sins is found, but all the blessings of the 
new and everlasting covenant. It is also the step 
that puts us across the line that separates the church 
from the world ; for no alien sinner is recognized 
as across that line till baptized into Christ. But 
when all these steps have been taken, there can be 
no doubt as to our standing. We are then children 
and heirs of God ; not only heirs of God, but joint 
heirs with Christ. We then have the right to culti- 
vate the hope of immortality and eternal life, and 
can rejoice with joy that is unspeakable and full of 
glory, and may have as associates the purest and 
holiest of earth, and enjoy all the promises of God 
to his children here and hereafter, if we will con- 
tinue to walk by faith. 



ioo Gospel Lessons and Life History. 



CHAPTER IX. 



Evidence of Pardon and of Continued Acceptance 

With God. 



There is an immense amount of confusion and 
misunderstanding among the masses of the people 
on this subject. The very first principles of it are 
misunderstood and misapplied. A great many are 
told : " The moment you accept Christ as your per- 
sonal Savior, that moment you are saved." This 
sort of testimony is all human, with nothing divine 
in it. The Lord nowhere makes that statement as 
the ground of acceptance with him. This is simply 
a proposition made by uninspired men, and is thor- 
oughly human and uncertain in its whole character. 
The preachers who tell sinners that, utterly fail to 
tell them how they must accept Christ. They must 
tell them what Christ requires them to do in order to 
be saved — must tell it plainly, so the people can un- 
derstand it, so they will know just when they get to 
the promise — in order to make that expression mean 
anything to the sinner. This they do not do. They 
leave it as if it were to be altogether a mental act — 
that they must make up their minds to accept him 
as their Savior, and that moment they are saved. 
These preachers then carry out the matter on that 
line with them. They ask those that have accepted 
Christ to stand up to indicate it ; and when they 
stand up, they announce them converted and saved. 



Evidence of Pardon. 101 

There is nothing manifested in all this but human 
wisdom. There is no passage in the word of God 
that makes any such proposition to the sinner. It 
is simply and only human. There is, therefore, no 
obedience in it, except what little faith they have 
in Christ. People, therefore, that trust in that prop- 
osition place their faith in man, in promises made 
by uninspired men ; for there is nothing in it that 
is from God. It leaves the promises and author- 
ity of God entirely out. It is simply and only from 
men. There is only one point in it that is in any 
sense like the teaching of the New Testament ; that 
is, the idea of a willingness to accept Christ as their 
Savior. This willingness to accept Christ must be 
reached ; but the question must still be answered as 
to what it is to accept Christ, so the sinner can 
know when he has so far accepted him as to entitle 
him to the promise of pardon. 

The evidence of pardon is no one-sided matter. 
First, we must know the conditions upon which God 
promised it ; in the next place, we must be assured 
in our own minds that we have complied with the 
specified conditions, so as to know that we have 
reached the promises. If we do a thousand things 
that men say, and do not do the things which God 
says do, we still have no promise from God that 
we are pardoned ; and since men are unable to save 
sinners, those who accept and do only what men 
say have no promise from God that they are saved. 
God has very specifically revealed what sinners 
must do in order to be saved; and if men were will- 
ing to accept the Lord's way of salvation, they 
could as easily tell what the Lord says for them to 
do as they can tell what men say. The great trou- 



102 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

ble is in the fact that so few are satisfied with what 
the Lord requires them to do. They all want to be 
saved, but want it in some other way. 

God has never proposed to recognize anything 
as obedience to him, except the doing of what he 
has commanded. Those, therefore, who are seek- 
ing and expecting it in some other way, simply have 
no evidence of acceptance with God. Not one of 
God's promises can be appropriated, unless we com- 
ply with the conditions upon which he made the 
promise. We are dependent upon the word of God 
for the truth of everything we believe regarding 
him. We believe God exists because the Bible so 
abundantly reveals him, and gives such indubita- 
ble testimony that he is, and of the wonders he has 
performed. We believe that Christ was born in 
Bethlehem because the word of God says so. Upon 
the same principle we believe he died and rose again 
from the dead and ascended to heaven. It is by the 
word of God we believe that the church of God ex- 
ists on earth. We would know nothing of salva- 
tion and of heaven if the Bible had said nothing 
about them ; and we know absolutely nothing about 
these beyond what the Bible says about them. We 
would not know that Enoch and Elijah were trans- 
lated if the Bible did not say so. 

Since, then, we are dependent upon the word of 
God for all that we know about salvation, how can 
we be assured that we are saved, except by, the 
word of God? • What assurance had Abraham that 
he should find a country, and that in him — that is, 
in his seed — all nations of the earth should be 
blessed, except that God promised it? It was not a 
matter of feelings or emotion that he looked for 



Evidence of Pardon. 103 

these things, but purely by believing the promise 
of God. So we to-clay can have no assurance of re- 
mission of sins, except as the word of God tells us 
so ; and as we have no access to the word of God 
but in the Bible, we must have a Bible promise for 
the remission of sins, or we have no promise at all. 

What sort of evidence had the Jew of remission 
of his sins when he had made a sin offering under 
the law of Moses? None at all, unless he made 
the offering as the word of the Lord directed. In 
the first place, God told what to offer and how to 
offer it ; and when the last step was taken in mak- 
ing the offering, the promise was in these words : 
"And it shall be forgiven him." So the promise was 
dependent upon complying with the conditions. If 
he did this, the promise was as sure as God's throne. 
If the conditions were not complied with, then there 
was no promise at all. The Jew could not tell by 
his feelings that he was pardoned ; but he could un- 
derstand the law of sin offerings, and could under- 
stand when he had made the offering as the word 
of God directed. At that point he could understand 
the promise of pardon was his. 

Feelings could not have been any evidence of par- 
don to those Jews, because God was the pardoning 
power in that case, and pardon took place in him, 
and not in the mind, in the heart, of the one par- 
doned. It was perfectly natural for one who had 
sinned to feel joyful relief as soon as he reached 
the point in his obedience where hie could claim the 
promise of pardon. But this joy, this relief of mind, 
was not the evidence of his pardon ; it was only 
the result of believing that he was pardoned, which 
belief was founded upon the word of God, which 



104 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

expressed the promise of forgiveness. Feelings, 
good or bad, are only the result of something be- 
lieved or done, and are no evidence of the truth or 
reality of the thing that caused the rejoicing or the 
sadness. 

During the Civil War reports frequently went out 
that a certain man was dead. Then his friends 
mourned his death. After a while they would find 
that he was only badly wounded and was rapidly 
recovering. Then they were happy again. In 
neither case were the feelings any evidence of the 
truth of what they had heard. It only shows they 
each time believed the report, and that their feel- 
ings were in accord with their faith and the char- 
acter of things believed. So feelings are not the 
evidence of pardon. In order for feelings to be an 
evidence of pardon, we would have to find certain 
feelings described in the word of God, and then find 
it stated that when people experience those feel- 
ings they are pardoned ; but the trouble is, there 
are no such things in the Bible, and, therefore, it 
is not possible that feelings can be the evidence of 
pardon. But everybody has the right to be happy 
when they have the word of God for it that they 
have been forgiven. The evidence of pardon is no 
one-sided thing. There are really two witnesses in 
the matter of forgiveness of sins. The word of God 
is one witness, testifying that upon compliance with 
certain conditions people may be pardoned. The 
spirit of the man, which knows when he has done 
the things required in full purpose of heart, is the 
other witness. Then, if he assuredly believes the 
word of God, he believes that he is pardoned, and 
rejoices in the Lord. 



Evidence of Pardon. 105 

This is always true in the matter of remission 
of sins. There is always law on the one hand and 
obedience on the other. Paul expresses this prin- 
ciple in Christianity when he says : " For the law 
of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me 
free from the law of sin and death." (Rom. 8 : 2.) 
The whole matter of Christianity comes to us 
through the teaching of the Holy Spirit. It teaches 
us all about Christ, and what he has done for us, 
and what we must do in obedience to him in order 
to be saved. The Holy Spirit gives a law, by sub- 
mission to which pardon comes to all that obey that 
law. 

In the same chapter he also says : " The Spirit it- 
self beareth witness with our spirit, that we are 
the children of God." This presents the matter in 
very plain and forcible language, so that any one 
that has any sort of competency can understand 
it. The proposition to be established is that we are 
children of God. In establishing this truth, there 
are two witnesses that testify — the Spirit of God 
and our spirits. The Spirit of God testifies in words 
that all can understand. In the first place, it tells 
us that Christ died for our sins, and that he rose 
again for our justification. It tells us that his 
" blood was shed for many for the remission of 
sins." It tells us that the love of God was so in- 
volved in the matter of human redemption " that 
he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever be- 
lieveth in him should not perish, but have everlast- 
ing life." These things are enough to interest any 
soul that feels the need of salvation, and lead him 
to investigate the matter. The death of Christ and 
the shedding of his blood lie at the foundation of 



106 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

the whole matter of remission of sins. If Christ did 
not die and rise again, there is no remission of sins. 

So the question is now appropriate: What is the 
evidence that Jesus is the Christ — that he died and 
rose again? To this there is but one answer — the 
word of God, through the Holy Spirit, tells us so ; 
and when it can be truthfully stated that the word 
of God tells us so, that is an end to all controversy 
with all that believe the Bible. These grand facts 
being true, then salvation, remission of sins, is pos- 
sible. How, then, does the Spirit tell sinners they 
can secure remission of sins? It says: "Believe 
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, 
and thy house." " He that believeth on him is not 
condemned : but he that believeth not is condemned 
already, because he hath not believed in the name 
of the only begotten Son of God." (John 3 : 18.) 

When the word of God plainly tells us in so many 
ways and in so many places that Jesus is the Son 
of God, and demands that we believe it, and pro- 
nounces condemnation upon us if we do not believe, 
it is plainly impossible to have any evidence of par- 
don if we do not believe. But the above and many 
other passages being true, it is certain the believer 
is on the way to secure assurance of the remission of 
his sins; and if salvation were by faith only, we 
might rest the case, so soon as we are assured that 
we believe that Jesus is the Christ, and that he died 
to save a ruined world. 

But the Holy Spirit does not stop the matter here. 
It is meant that the faith that saves is a working 
faith that leads its possessor to do other things also, 
equally necessary with faith, in order to salvation. 
Repentance comes next after faith as presented by 



Evidence of Pardon. 107 

the Holy Spirit. Jesus himself twice said to the 
Jewish people, " But, except ye repent, ye shall all 
likewise perish" (Luke 13: 3, 5), which at once 
shows the impossibility for sinners to be saved with- 
out repentance ; and twice, when the Holy Spirit was 
preaching through Peter to convert sinners, they 
were positively commanded to repent (Acts 2: 38; 
3: 19). These settle the question that no sinner 
can have the testimony of the Holy Spirit that he 
is saved unless he repents. But this is not all. Je- 
sus, in the commission, said : " He that believeth 
and is baptized shall be saved." (Mark 16: 16.) 
Only those that believe and are baptized have any 
promise of salvation. The Holy Spirit has never 
promised pardon, remission of sins, to any who stop 
short of baptism; but he has promised it to those 
who believe, repent, and are baptized. These pas- 
sages show that no faith can save a sinner that does 
not lead him through baptism. So here are three 
things the Holy Spirit requires a sinner to do before 
he reaches the promise. But the promise of re- 
mission is positively certain to all who take these 
steps. 

But here comes in the testimony of the individ- 
ual seeking pardon. He must be able to say fully, 
" I have believed the gospel, have repented, have 
been baptized," to make the testimony complete. 
To be baptized is shown by Paul twice to be a 
burial ; and since water is the element in which bap- 
tism takes place, it is, therefore, a burial in water. 
So when one has believed, has repented, and has 
been buried with Christ in baptism, he may then 
be as sure of the remission of sins as that the word 
of God is true ; and this is the way " the Spirit it- 



108 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

self beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the 
children of God." This is the only way the Spirit 
of God gives its testimony that men are children 
of God. If it gives it in any other way, it has not 
been put to record. It is a matter of faith in the 
word of God from beginning to end — faith enough, 
in the first place, to lead one to obey the commands 
of the gospel, and then faith enough in the promises 
of the gospel to be sure they will be fulfilled when-^ 
ever we obey. 

This teaching misleads no one, for it is just as 
the history of conversions in the New Testament 
presents the matter ; and those conversions were 
brought about by the HolySpirit through the apos- 
tles. Hence, all may be .sure those conversions 
were right. Let no one delude himself into the 
idea that he has been. converted by the Spirit of 
God when he has not obeyed the commands of the 
Spirit as preached through the apostles and re- 
corded in the New Testament ; for those that obey 
not the gospel are doomed to perish in eternity. 
(See 2 Thess. 1 : 7-9.) To obey the gospel is to do 
just what the gospel requires to be done. The man, 
therefore, who trusts to dreamy, mystical influences 
of the Spirit, and has not done what the Spirit says 
do as given through the apostles, has no evidence 
of the Spirit of any sort that he is a child of God. 

But there is yet another item in the matter of 
forgiveness that is just as important as the mat- 
ter we have herein been considering, and that is the 
forgiveness of the erring child of God. The Lord 
has provided two laws of pardon. He has pardoned 
people in all his revealed dispensations through law. 
The meaning of this is that obedience to the law 



Evidence of Pardon. 109 

of pardon makes people ready for it. Pardon for 
wrongs, without any change in the life of the wrong- 
doer, would be to put a premium upon sin, would 
encourage sinners to wax worse and worse. So 
God plans always to make sinners better before he 
forgives them. The law of pardon that makes 
Christians out of sinners makes them better in 
heart, in life, and puts them into a better relation- 
ship. As the sinner goes through with faith, re- 
pentance, and baptism, it puts him in such condi- 
tion of heart and life that he can be freely forgiven 
without in any sense encouraging sin. On the other 
hand, the whole thing encourages righteousness. 
So with the law of pardon to the erring Christian. 
When a Christian gets wrong, he needs to be made 
right again ; for to pardon him without improving 
him, making him a better man, would but make him 
worse — would cause him to become a greater sinner 
than before he was pardoned. The whole purpose 
of the plan of salvation is to save people from their 
sins and to make them pure and holy. So we 
should not look upon these laws of pardon as work- 
ing hardships upon men, but as conferring the great- 
est blessings upon them. Xo greater blessing can 
be bestowed upon a sinner than to make a right- 
eous man of him. 

We will take Simon, the sorcerer, as an example 
of this principle, as well as of the second law of par- 
don. He is an example to the full of both laws of 
pardon. He was but a wicked man, and a deceiver, 
a sorcerer, bewitching the people, making them be- 
lieve that he was the great power of God, when 
Philip went to Samaria and began preaching the 
gospel of Christ there. The preaching caught his 



no Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

attention, while the miracles performed through 
Philip convinced him of the truth of the preaching. 
The divine record says : " Then Simon himself be- 
lieved also : and when he was baptized, he continued 
with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles 
and signs which were done." Thus he obeyed the 
law of pardon to the unconverted, and was thereby 
made a better man. He turned away from his sor- 
cery and remained with Philip, and was astounded 
over what he saw and heard. He turned from his 
former course of life and seemed intent upon being 
a better man. 

How long he kept this up, we are not informed ; 
but it was long enough to show the effect of obe- 
dience to the gospel on a man. And if he had con- 
tinued this new life, he would have been all right ; 
but, unfortunately, temptation came, and he yielded 
and fell into sin again. Peter and John were sent 
down to Samaria to confer miraculous spiritual gifts 
upon some of the members there. Simon looked on 
and saw what was being done, and, instead of be- 
ing benefited and strengthened in the faith, he al- 
lowed a wicked thought to enter, and gave expres- 
sion to it. "And when Simon saw that through 
laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost 
was given, he offered them money, saying, Give me 
also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, 
he may receive the Holy Ghost." (Acts 8: 18, 19.) 
This thought was very wicked, and Peter at once 
rebuked him firmly. " But Peter said unto him, Thy 
money perish with thee, because thou hast thought 
that the gift of God may be purchased with money. 
Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for 
thy heart is not right in the sight of God." (Verses 



Evidence of Pardon. in 

20, 21.) This was a t.imeiy rebuke. Simon had 
used his magic arts as a profession, as a means of 
making money; and it may have struck him that 
if he had the power to confer the Holy Spirit, he 
could make money by that. Anyway, he was will- 
ing to pay money for the power to confer it; and 
whether he realized it or not, his thought carried 
out would have made the power to confer the Holy 
Spirit a matter of merchandise, would thus have de- 
graded the great power of God. 

Peter further said to him : " Repent therefore of 
this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the 
thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. For 
I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and 
in the bond of iniquity." (Verses 22, 23.) This is 
truly a heavy indictment. But he gives a possible 
remedy, which was to repent of the wicked thought 
and pray to God to be forgiven. The next verse 
tells all we know as to the effect of what Peter 
said to him : " Then answered Simon, and said, 
Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these 
things which ye have spoken come upon me." 
(Verse 24.) This leaves him apparently in a very 
humble state of mind, as though he meant to try to 
place himself in a better attitude. 

But whatever he may have done, this is a very 
important passage to us, in the matter of the law 
of pardon for the erring child of God. All are lia- 
ble to do wrong, and it is evident we can carry no 
sin with us into heaven. We must get rid of it be- 
fore we get to the judgment. It is certainly a mat- 
ter of great mercy on the part of the Heavenly Fa- 
ther to make provision by which we can obtain re- 
mission of sins we thoughtlessly commit after com- 



ii2 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

ing into the church. No true child of God wants 
to carry sin long in this life. All want to get rid 
of it, and want to be assured that they are rid of it. 
God has arranged it that way for us, if we will avail 
ourselves of the provisions made. Christians are 
required to walk by faith in all the service of God; 
they are never done with faith while they live. 
When they sin, do wrong, they must repent of the 
wrong, and rectify, or undo, the wrong if they can. 

John says : " If we confess our sins, he is faith- 
ful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse 
us from all unrighteousness. " (1 John 1 : 9.) Add 
this item to what was- said to Simon, and we have 
faith, continued faith in God and his word, repent- 
ance for the sin committed, confession of that sin 
to God, and prayer to him that we may be forgiven. 
This is the law of pardon for the child of God who 
has sinned. It can be readily seen that obedience 
to this law prepares one that has done wrong for 
pardon. The law does not pardon, does not save; 
but it prepares people for God to save them. Hence 
the great importance of God's laws of pardon. We 
need this law every time we do wrong, to put us in 
condition to be forgiven. 

God's laws are not tyrannical, nor are they in- 
tended to purchase salvation by anything we do in 
submitting to them. They are intended to have 
their effect on us, to make us ready to be forgiven ; 
and this is the great matter for us to be concerned 
about. If we get ready to be pardoned, we may 
fully and without the least uneasiness trust the Lord 
to forgive us. It is all of God's grace and mercy 
that sinners can be saved at all. The laws and re- 
quirements of God are but means of grace to reform, 



Evidence of Pardon. 113 

elevate, ennoble, and purify the hearts and lives of 
men, to fit them for his pardoning grace and mercy 
here and for the glories of the home beyond the 
grave. It is a mistake to so emphasize any act of 
obedience in such way as to create the impression 
that obedience has any sort of saving power, except 
to give us a character that justifies God to save us, 
and himself remain righteous and just. As Chris- 
tians, we should strive to keep our whole lives in 
harmony with God's will, for it is only in this way 
that we can have any assurance of continued accep- 
tance with God. It is only when we keep in close 
touch with the word of God and continue to do what 
it requires that we can have the testimony of God's 
Spirit, through his words, that we continue to be 
the accepted children of God. It is also upon this 
same principle of continuing to do the will of God 
that we can have a scriptural hope of eternal life. 

In other words, there are two sides to Chris- 
tianity: On the one side is what God has done and 
what he promises to do for man's salvation ; on 
the other side is what he requires men to do. The 
Lord's part, man cannot do ; man's part, the Lord 
will not do. Our only hope, therefore, of sal- 
vation is to faithfully do our part, which is to do 
his will and trust his promises ; for the man that 
turns away from God's will and continues in sin 
becomes more sinful generally than before he 
obeyed the gospel. An apostle says : " For it had 
been better for them not to have known the way of 
righteousness, than, after they have known it, to 
turn from the holy commandment delivered unto 
them." (2 Pet. 2 : 21.) It is a fearful thing, there- 
fore, to turn away from Christ and live and die in 
8 



ii4 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

sin ; but in full submission, day by day, to God's will, 
we may always enjoy a lively hope of eternal life 
in the home prepared for the righteous. God has 
been wondrously kind in arranging the matters of 
salvation so that we may be fully assured of being 
children of God and of continued acceptance with 
him. 



Row Does the Spirit Enlighten People t 115 



CHAPTER X. 



How Does the Holy Spirit Enlighten People? 



While this question is easily answered by the 
word of God, it is a fact that if you take the prac- 
tice and teaching of the religious world to-day as 
an answer, there is no item in the matter of con- 
version in greater confusion than this. While the 
masses of preachers say many good things about 
the word of God, there are none known to the writer 
among the denominations that rely upon the word of 
the Lord in the conversion of sinners. Some rely 
upon an abstract operation of the Spirit of God to 
convict and convert the sinner. Others (and these 
are the more inconsistent) claim that the sinner can- 
not embrace and obey the word and be saved by it 
till the Holy Spirit comes and applies the word to 
the heart. The preachers that are loyal to Christ 
rely purely and implicitly upon the word of the Lord 
to convict and convert sinners. The prayer and 
get-religion systems of conversion of all orders uni- 
versally rely upon the abstract operation of the 
Spirit for conversion. They do not call upon peo- 
ple to obey the gospel, nor do they tell them how 
to obey it — how to do just what the word of the 
Lord says do in order to be saved. They rely 
mainly on much prayer, singing, exhortation, and 
such like, and wait for the Lord to get ready to fin- 
ish up the work. 



n6 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

This class of preachers work on the people till 
they get them willing to be saved ; then, instead of 
telling them what to do to be saved, they wait for 
the Lord to do what he has never promised to do 
since time began. Men promise the people things 
God never promised ; and as men cannot fulfill that 
sort of promises, they will never be fulfilled. The 
promises of God will always be fulfilled if the peo- 
ple will comply with the conditions upon which the 
promises were made ; but the promises of men in 
religion are not only worthless, but deceptive and 
ruinous. Those that rely upon the promises of men 
in the matter of salvation are led away from God 
and from salvation. Those who promise that the 
Spirit of God will work in them in any way to con- 
vert them, except through the words of the Holy 
Spirit as preached through the apostles, are prom- 
ising something that God never promised in any age 
or dispensation of the world's history. 

Men were awfully wicked before the flood, and 
God determined upon their destruction unless they 
would repent. So Noah was made a preacher of 
righteousness to warn them of their approaching 
ruin. God said : " My Spirit shall not strive with 
man for ever, for that he also is flesh : yet shall his 
days be a hundred and twenty years." (Gen. 6: 3.) 
This is a plain indication that his Spirit would strive 
with men a hundred and twenty years. But how? 
Secretly or through words? Peter explains that for 
us in the New Testament. He says : " For Christ 
also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the un- 
just, that he might bring us to God, being put to 
death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit : by 
which also he went and preached unto the spirits 



How Does the Spirit Enlighten People? 117 

in prison ; which some time were disobedient, when 
once the long-suffering of God waited in the days 
of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein 
few, that is, eight souls were saved by water." (1 
Pet. 3 : 18-20.) 

Christ by the Spirit went and preached — preached 
through Noah by inspiring him to do the work. 
The preaching was done to disobedient people, 
and done while the ark was preparing; but their 
spirits were in prison when Peter wrote, reserved 
to the great day of judgment. Thus the Spirit of 
God strove with those people before the flood, but 
to no purpose. They refused to be warned and to 
repent, and were destroyed by the flood because of 
their sins and because they would not repent. 

If there was any secret operation of God's Spirit 
upon one single soul during this affair, there was 
not one word of record made of it. There is plenty 
of evidence that preaching was done, and that it was 
done by the Spirit of Christ through Noah, and 
that it was done while the ark was being prepared. 
This has been God's way of moving men from the 
beginning. What else was needed when the Spirit 
went and preached to them ? Could any other sort 
of operation have effected more than the words of 
the Spirit addressed to their understanding? Most 
assuredly not. If those people had heard and 
heeded that preaching, had repented of their sins, 
they evidently would have been spared. This was 
the purport of Noah's preaching. The expression, 
" a preacher of righteousness," clearly indicates that 
Noah taught them to cease from their sins and live 
righteously. It also shows the great mercy of God 



n8 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

in affording them such an opportunity after they 
had become so rebellious and sinful. 

God spoke to Abraham, and told him plainly what 
to do, and promised great blessings to him in con- 
sequence of obedience to his words. When Abra- 
ham was an old man, and had obeyed God in the 
matter of offering his son as a burnt offering, God 
spoke to him again, saying : " Now I know that thou 
fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, 
thine only son from me." He then repeated the 
leading promises he had made to him, adding: " Be- 
cause thou hast obeyed my voice." Abraham heard 
the word of God, obeyed it, and was blessed. He 
stands before the world to-day as an example of 
the sufficiency of God's word. Abraham was a man 
of faith ; he heard, believed, obeyed, and was blessed. 
He is set before us as an example in these matters. 
But if a secret operation were to come upon people 
and convert them, it would do away with obedience, 
would render it null and void. There would be no 
place for it, and nothing for it to accomplish. The 
disobedient have no promise. 

People accuse those who insist upon obedience to 
the requirements of the gospel in order to be saved, 
of preaching a salvation of works, of trying to be 
" saved by their own works." I have been hear- 
ing this accusation ever since I began to hear the 
plain truth preached. Those who reject the "word 
of God and wait for some other power are the ones 
that pervert the word of God and destroy obedi- 
ence, the only thing that can lead to the promises 
of God. But we pass on to other scripture illus- 
trations of this subject. 

When God gave the law of Moses to the Jews, 



How Does the Spirit Enlighten People? 119 

he first spoke the Ten Commandments to them, and 
then wrote them on two tables of stone. Then from 
time to time he gave the remainder of the law to 
Moses, directing him to write it down, which he 
did. In these records the Jewish people were told 
that if they would be obedient to these laws, would 
hearken to all the precepts and ordinances of the 
Lord that had been given them, they should be 
blessed above all other people, should be blessed 
in their basket and in their store, and in every other 
way that would make a happy and prosperous peo- 
ple. But this was not all. He told them, on the 
other hand, that if they would not obey his com- 
mandments as written in the book of the law, they 
should be cursed and afflicted more than any others. 
And all who have read the Bible know that these 
promised blessings all came when they were obedi- 
ent, and that the curses came when they were diso- 
bedient. 

At one time in the life of Moses the people were 
so heedless and hard to control that he asked the 
Lord to take his life away, rather than to impose 
so great a burden upon him as to require him to 
govern such a disobedient people alone. The Lord*, 
however, had a better remedy than that. He told 
him to select seventy men, elders of Israel, and 
bring them out to the tabernacle ; that he would 
meet with him there, and take of the Spirit that 
was upon him and put it upon them, that they 
might assist him in governing the people, so he 
would not have to bear it all alone. Moses did as 
commanded, and the Lord fulfilled his promise, and 
put the Spirit upon the seventy to the extent that 
" they prophesied, and did not cease." Even two 



120 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

of the men that did not go out to the tabernacle re- 
ceived the Spirit and prophesied in their tents. 
Read this in the eleventh chapter of Numbers. 
This was a miraculous, inspiring power of the Spirit, 
that inspired them to govern the people according 
to the law, and thus assist Moses, who was already 
abundantly inspired, in governing the people. Thus 
the Holy Spirit was given miraculously to a few 
men, enabling them to speak the .word of God to 
the masses, and teach them the good and the right 
way. 

It is wonderfully encouraging to see the power 
and sufficiency of the word of God as manifested 
in the history of those people. All that they needed 
to do to be led by the Spirit was to obey the com- 
mandments of the law of Moses. They were prom- 
ised abundant blessings if they would obey the law 
as it was written. King David was inspired, and 
he said : " The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and 
his word was in my tongue." (2 Sam. 23 : 2.) 
God's Spirit teaches people in words addressed to 
their understanding. God, through Isaiah, says : " I 
have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the 
earth : I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye 
me in vain : I the Lord speak righteousness, I de- 
clare things that are right." (Isa. 45 : 19.) And 
again : " Come ye near unto me, hear ye this ; I have 
not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the 
time that it was, there am I : and now the Lord God, 
and his Spirit, hath sent me." (Isa. 48 : 16.) These 
passages show that God never spoke secretly, with- 
out .words. He has alw r ays spoken to people in their 
own language, leaving no room for doubt or uncer- 
tainty as to what his will is. 



How Does the Spirit Enlighten People? 121 

God again says to the Jewish people : "And when 
they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have 
familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and 
that mutter: should not a people seek unto their 
God? for the living to the dead? To the law and 
to the testimony: if they speak not according to 
this word, it is because there is no light in them." 
(Isa. 8: 19, 20.) From these passages it is clear 
that we can rely upon no sort of secret influences. 
They will all lead people away from the word of 
God, and thus destroy the influence of the only 
thing that can lead us in the path of safety, which 
is the word of God. From the above passages we 
may safely say that throughout the whole of the 
Old Testament the people were taught by the Holy 
Spirit, but never by a secret, abstract operation. 
From the beginning to the end it always taught 
through words. We believe that untold mischief 
is being constantly done by making the impression 
that the Spirit convicts and converts people in any 
other way than through words. 

But what about the New Testament? How does 
the Spirit do its work here? By talking to and 
teaching the people ? We will see. John the Baptist 
is the first preacher presented to us in this volume. 
He was foretold in the Old Testament in the follow- 
ing words : " The voice of him that crieth in the 
wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make 
straight in the desert a highway for our God." 
(Isa. 40: 3.) This very plainly indicates that John 
would be a preacher ; that he should cry, should pro- 
claim something. When he came, he did precisely 
what this passage indicates he should do. " In 
those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the 



122 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

wilderness of Judea, and saying, Repent ye : for the 
kingdom of heaven is -at hand." (Matt. 3: 1, 2.) 
He was, therefore, a preacher, a proclaimer of 
Heaven's truth, telling the people in words what to 
do. He was a man sent from God; he was filled 
with the Holy Spirit from his birth ; he was a great 
prophet; he was to make ready a people for the 
Lord; he was to do a grand work, and did it by 
preaching. The Spirit did the preaching through 
him ; hence, the work of John was well done. To 
make ready a people and to introduce Jesus to Is- 
rael was no small matter. None but an inspired 
man could have done the work he did, nor would 
the Lord have intrusted such a work to any but 
an inspired man. What more could an abstract op- 
eration of the Spirit do in such a work than the 
Spirit itself could do through its own words? We 
cannot conceive of a more important work than was 
done by the Spirit through John by speaking to 
them in their own language. John was a great 
talker, a great teacher, and a wonderful worker. 
The Holy Spirit through him wrought the most 
wonderful revolution where he preached that had 
ever been produced among the people of that sec- 
tion. 

, The next preacher of the New Testament was the 
Son of God himself. His teaching was all new, and 
the most startling that had ever been heard on this 
earth. When he had finished the Sermon on the 
Mount, the people were astonished, and said : " He 
speaks as one having authority, and not as the 
scribes." It was the talking that astonished them 
so much. They had never heard anything like it. 
On another occasion, when the high priests had sent 



How Does the Spirit Enlighten People? 123 

officers to arrest him, they found him talking, and 
they stopped to listen. They had never heard any 
such talking before. They were filled with awe, and 
would not try to arrest him. They returned to 
those that sent then>, and these said : " Why have 
ye not brought him ? " They said : " Never man 
spake like this man." These passages, and very 
many others of like import, show how the Savior 
did his work. The Spirit talked through him, and 
thus made its impressions by and through words 
spoken to the people in their own languages wherein 
they were born. 

Again : " For he whom God hath sent speaketh 
the words of God : for God giveth not the Spirit 
b}' measure unto him." (John 3 : 34.) The Spirit 
was given to men in measures, depending on what 
they were to do ; but to Jesus, without measure, 
without limit. He was given such an abundant 
supply of the Spirit as to enable him to speak or 
do anything necessary for him to do or say to show 
himself to be the Son of God, and do anything and 
everything needful to be done in providing a com- 
plete plan of salvation for men. So the Holy Spirit 
taught and worked abundantly through the Son of 
God, who did the most wonderful work that had 
ever been done on this earth — a work that will last 
through time and through eternity. But if we 
credit this work to a secret operation of the Spirit 
among and upon the people while Jesus was on 
earth, it would set aside, destroy, set at naught, the 
teaching of the Holy Spirit through the Son of God. 

But how about the conversion of sinners under 
the gospel dispensation, since all miraculous opera- 
tions have ceased? This is simply a plain, scrip- 



124 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

tural matter, to be settled by the word of the Lord. 
When Jesus had arisen from the dead, and before 
he ascended, he commanded the apostles to go " into 
all the world, and preach the gospel to every crea- 
ture," and to begin this proclamation at Jerusalem, 
and to wait, tarry in Jerusalem, till they should " be 
endued with power from on high." (Luke 24: 46- 
49.) This power from on high meant the Holy 
Spirit which Jesus had already promised to his apos- 
tles. He said to them before this time, when he 
foretold the suffering and trials they would have to 
undergo as his apostles : " But when they deliver 
you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak : 
for it shall be given you in that same hour what 
ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but 
the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you." 
(Matt. 10: 19, 20.) The Holy Spirit, therefore, was 
to come upon them and be a power within them that 
should speak through them. Jesus said to them 
again : " Nevertheless I tell you the truth ; It is ex- 
pedient for you that I go away : for if I go not away, 
the Comforter will not come unto you ; but if I de- 
part, I will send him unto you. And when he is 
come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of right- 
eousness, and of judgment. . . . Howbeit when 
he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you 
into all truth : for he shall not speak of himself ; 
but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak : 
and he will show you things to come. He shall 
glorify me : for he shall receive of mine, and shall 
show it unto you." (John 16: 7-14.) And again: 
" But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost-, 
whom the Father will send in my name, he shall 
teach you all things, and bring all things to your 



How Does the Spirit Enlighten People? 125 

remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." 
(John 14:26.) 

These are a few of the promises of the Holy Spirit 
which was to be given to the apostles. It should 
be observed that the Spirit was to come upon the 
apostles, not to the world ; yet its coming upon the 
apostles was to be for the benefit of the world. 
He shall " reprove [that is, shall convince or con- 
vict] the world of sin." The benefits of its coming 
were to be to the world; yet it was to come directly 
upon the apostles, and through them speak to the 
world to convict and convert them. It was never 
promised to come directly to the world to convert 
them. This fact of itself would forever destroy the 
whole idea of conversion by an abstract influence 
of the Spirit upon them to convert them ; and, be- 
sides, it was emphatically said of the Spirit : "Whom 
the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, 
neither knoweth him : but ye know him ; for he 
dwelleth with you, and shall be in you." (John 
14: 17.) This is a final settlement of the question 
of abstract spiritual influence upon the heart of the 
sinner, since he cannot receive it. When Jesus says 
a thing cannot be, that settles it. 

On the other hand, when the Spirit came upon 
the apostles to inspire them, the purpose of it was 
to speak to the world through them, and thereby 
teach them the way of salvation, teach the gospel 
and its requirements, what they must do to be 
saved, to become children of God. Conversion, 
therefore, by the Holy Spirit is no mere matter of in- 
ward, secret, emotional impressions, without words 
or motives, but of plain, intelligent teaching through 
words, telling what Christ has done to prepare the 



126 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

plan, and what the sinner must do in order to be 
saved, and in such plainness that he may know just 
when he has the right to claim that his past sins 
are pardoned. 

In this way the sinner is not left to his feelings 
as to the evidence of his acceptance with God, but 
it is a matter of plain understanding of, and faith 
in, the word of God ; and since the word of God is 
good for all it calls for, this is all that is needed in 
order to rejoice and be happy in the precious prom- 
ises of God. In this case the happy feelings result 
from faith in God and his promises. But in the 
idea of conversion and pardon through an abstract 
operation,, God's order is reversed, and the feelings 
are taken as the evidence of acceptance with God, 
which puts faith in the word and promise of God 
entirely out of the question, and makes the whole 
a mere matter of excited feelings. 

There are many also that claim a baptism of the 
Holy Spirit in connection with conversion. They 
claim that such passages as speak of being baptized 
into Christ, and of being buried with him in bap- 
tism, and such like, mean the baptism of the Holy 
Spirit, and not water baptism. In the next chap- 
ter we will notice this claim and its absurdity. We 
will also show from examples of the preaching of 
the apostles and the actual conversion of sinners 
how the Spirit did that work. 

It is hard to estimate how much it is worth to 
us to correctly understand the plan of salvation, to 
have a clear understanding of the work of the Holy 
Spirit. Those who so earnestly advocate an ab- 
stract operation of the Spirit do not realize that no 
one on earth knows one single thing about the Holy 



How Does the Spirit Enlighten People? 127 

Spirit in any sense — not even that there is any Holy 
Spirit, except as the words of the Spirit in the Bi- 
ble make it known, and nothing about its work, ex- 
cept as made known by the words of the Spirit ; and 
it is a significant fact that the word of God, the 
word of the Holy Spirit, does not reveal one thing 
about conversion by any secret operation. The Bi- 
ble is utterly silent upon the whole matter. The 
whole idea, therefore, is imagination, and a human 
delusion which utterly counteracts the word of God, 
the only channel through which the Spirit leads man 
into salvation. 



128 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 



CHAPTER XL 



How the Spirit of God Makes Christians. 



Since the baptism of the Spirit is supposed by 
many to play a conspicuous part in making Chris- 
tians, we first give attention to that. John the Bap- 
tist is the first to mention it, and he mentions it 
as something Christ was to do. " I indeed baptize 
you in water unto repentance : but he that cometh 
after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not 
worthy to bear: he shall baptize you in the Holy 
Spirit and in fire." (Matt. 3: 11.) 

Two or three things are worthy of note in this 
passage. First, that Christ was the one, and the only 
one, to administer the baptism of the Spirit. Men 
never administered it. It never was placed in the 
hands of men to baptize any one in the Holy Spirit. 
This was reserved for Christ alone. Men are re- 
quired to baptize people in water, but not in the 
Spirit. In the second place, the baptism in the 
Spirit was a promise, but not a command. Not one 
human being was ever commanded to be baptized 
in the Spirit. • 

This statement of John is repeated in Luke 3 : 16, 
and partly repeated by Mark (1 : 8). Matthew and 
Luke both state that he (Christ) would also baptize 
in fire. Mark does not mention the baptism in fire. 
Christ, just before he ascended to heaven, and when 
talking to the apostles for the last time on earth, 



Row the Spirit of God Makes Christians. 129 

said : " For John indeed baptized with water ; but 
ye shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many 
days hence." (Acts 1 : 5.) In this passage, as in 
Mark, nothing is said about a baptism of fire. Mat- 
thew and Luke both mention the fire, and both speak 
of it as unquenchable. John the Baptist was speak- 
ing to a mixed multitude, and spoke of two baptisms 
— one in the -Holy Spirit, and the other in fire. 
They were specifically two elements, and it is not 
to be understood that both these elements were to 
be united in one baptism. The apostles were to be 
baptized in the Holy Spirit ; and the wicked, all the 
finally impenitent, will be baptized in the fire that 
is never to be quenched. The passages in Matthew 
and Luke both represent the final judgment in con- 
nection with the statement concerning these bap- 
tisms. Matthew says of Christ : " Whose fan is in 
his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his thrash- 
ing-floor; and he will gather his wheat into the gar- 
ner, but the chaff he will burn up with unquench- 
able fire." The wheat represents the righteous, 
who, at the judgment, will be separated from the 
wicked and received into heaven, while the wicked 
will be " cast into everlasting fire, prepared for the 
devil and his angels." This is evidently the bap- 
tism of fire foretold by John the Baptist in connec- 
tion with the baptism in the Holy Spirit. 

So in this investigation we are only called upon 
to consider the baptism in the Holy Spirit. In the 
passage quoted from the first chapter of Acts, Jesus 
promised it directly to the apostles, and that within 
a few days. The question now is : For what pur- 
pose were these apostles that had been so long with 
Christ, to be baptized in the Holy Spirit? Was it 
9 



130 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

to save them ? Certainly not ; for they had been the 
disciples of Christ for three years and a half, and 
he was going to intrust the great work of proclaim- 
ing the gospel to the whole world to their care. In 
doing so important a work, they needed special qual- 
ifications. Christ had taught them many things re- 
garding the kingdom he had come to establish, but 
they would not likely remember all and know how 
to apply it ; and, besides, many things pertaining to 
the gospel and the conversion of sinners had not 
been told them, so that they needed further infor- 
mation regarding them. All this had been foretold 
to them through the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, 
that had been promised them ; but up to the time 
Christ ascended, this divine Helper had not been 
received. All this was to be accomplished in this 
promised baptism the Savior gave them at the time 
of his ascension to heaven. 

They were told to tarry in Jerusalem till they 
should receive power from on high, showing clearly 
that they were not fully prepared for the work laid 
out for them, and would not be until additional 
power should come from heaven. So in about one 
week from the time the promise was made it was 
fulfilled under very wonderful and impressive cir- 
cumstances. The work they were to do was so 
vastly important that there was to be no shadow 
of doubt that they were delivering messages from 
God. It was necessary, not only that the people 
to whom they preached should be satisfied the mes- 
sage they heard was divine, but that the people 
through all coming time should have the same as- 
surance. 

These facts enable us to begin to see what was 



H'ow the Spirit of God Makes Christians. 131 

to be the purpose of this promised baptism of the 
Holy Spirit. So we will now look into some -of the 
details of this occurrence. "And when the day of 
Pentecost was now come, they were all together in 
one place." " ' They ' — who ? " it may be asked. In 
the close of the preceding chapter the apostles are 
spoken of, the word " apostles " being the last word. 
Then, in the passage above quoted, immediately fol- 
lowing, the pronoun " they " relates to the word 
" apostles." It is certain, therefore, that the apos- 
tles were present on that memorable day, the day 
of Pentecost — the very ones to whom the commis- 
sion was given to " go . . . into all the world, 
and preach the gospel to every creature." "And 
suddenly there came from heaven a sound as of the 
rushing of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house 
where they were sitting. And there appeared unto 
them tongues parting asunder, like as of fire ; and it 
sat upon each one of them. And they were all filled 
with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other 
tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." This 
was one of the most astonishing events that ever 
occurred in the far-famed city of Jerusalem. The 
sound of a rushing mighty wind is terrific and 
alarming. Then the things they saw, the divided 
tongues appearing and sitting upon each one of the 
apostles, and their beginning to speak in other 
languages, dialects they had never learned, were 
enough to make every one see and realize that the 
whole thing was from God. 

This was indeed a fulfillment of what the Savior 
had promised but a week before ; it was a baptism 
of the Holy Spirit; and it becomes perfectly plain 
as to what was the purpose of this baptism. The 



132 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

time had come for the proclamation of the gospel, 
and they were in the right place to begin ; they had 
been plainly told to begin in the city of Jerusalem. 
This was the great metropolis of the Jewish nation, 
the city in which the great tragedy of the mock trial 
of the Son of God and of the cross occurred, and 
only fifty days after those awful things were en- 
acted. The Jews had claimed that Christ was an 
impostor, was only a man, and not the Son of God, 
and had hired the guard that watched the tomb to 
report that the disciples had stolen the body away 
while they slept ; and thus they sought to put out 
all evidences that Jesus was the Son of God. So 
far as the record shows, Christ never showed him- 
self to the masses of the people after he rose from 
the dead. He showed himself several times to his 
disciples, and one time to five hundred at once, but 
never one time to the unbelieving Jews, who were 
still believing that he was an impostor, and thought 
they had demonstrated that fact in that they were 
able to put him to death. They did not yet realize 
that it was God's will that he should die for the 
salvation of the world, nor that they made them- 
selves murderers ; yet they carried out just what 
God intended should be done. Now for these un- 
educated Galilean apostles to preach to these un- 
believing murderers of Jesus in any way that would 
get their attention, there was a necessity that the 
miraculous power of God should be manifested in 
and upon the preachers, so there could be no doubt 
that God was with them. Moreover, it was neces- 
sary that the beginning of the proclamation of the 
gospel should be of such character as not only to 
convince the Jewish people there of its truth, but 



How the Spirit of God Makes Christians. 133 

to furnish sufficient evidence to be handed down 
through all future generations, even to the end of 
time, that the whole matter of the Christian religion 
is divine. 

All this was accomplished by that miraculous bap- 
tism in the Holy Spirit. It was all miraculous ; the 
unusual sound when the Holy Spirit came, the di- 
vided tongues and their firelike appearance, and 
the unexpected preaching those men did on that 
day — preaching that was so far above their natural 
abilities that it all conspired to leave no doubt upon 
those who witnessed the occasion that the mighty 
power of God was in the whole affair ; and so thor- 
ough was this conviction that neither at the time 
nor in all after years was there one voice raised to 
show that the things which were reported on that 
day did not occur. 

This was one of the strangest occasions of all 
time. It introduced the religion of Christ to the 
Jews, and, some seven or eight years later, to the 
Gentile world, at the house of Cornelius, by a sim- 
ilar event — that is, through another baptism of the 
Holy Spirit. Not only these things, but the sacred 
volume we call the New Testament has come either 
directly or indirectly from the powers and influences 
that started on that day. , 

These, in the main, make up the purpose of the 
miraculous baptism of the Holy Spirit ; and after 
the house of Cornelius, there was never another oc- 
currence of this sort of baptism, so far as the di- 
vine record shows. 

When the purposes of the baptism of the Holy 
Spirit had been completed, the apostles were then 
full of the Spirit, and ready to give utterance to the 



134 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

words dictated by the Spirit as needed. Jerusalem 
was full of Jewish people, attendant upon one of 
their feasts, and very quickly there was a large au- 
dience collected to hear them. "And when this 
sound was heard, the multitude came together, and 
were confounded, because that every- man heard 
them speaking in his own language." No wonder 
they were confounded ! They knew the speakers 
were Galileans, that they were not educated, that 
they were not known to be orators even in their own 
mother tongue ; but now to hear them speaking so 
fluently in so many different languages, they were 
just carried away with amazement, there being sev- 
enteen different languages present on that occasion, 
and all hearing in their own native tongues. 

It was unaccountable to them. Some hardened 
ones began to mock and to accuse them of being full 
of new wine. " But Peter, standing up with the 
eleven, lifted up his voice, and spake forth unto 
them, saying, Ye men of Judea, and all ye that dwell 
at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and give ear 
unto my words." A large audience is now gath- 
ered, and Peter now becomes the chief speaker, and 
demands attention to his words. He was there to 
talk, and had something to say, and wanted them 
to hear it. Let it be remembered that Peter was 
simply speaking as the Spirit gave him utterance. 
The first part of his speech was explanatory of the 
unusual things they saw and heard — that it was a 
fulfillment of prophecy concerning the outpouring 
of the Holy Spirit. This explained, he called atten- 
tion a second time to what he was about to say, 
thus : ." Ye men of Israel, hear these words : Jesus 
of Nazareth, a man approved of God unto you by 



How the Spirit of God Makes Christians. 135 

mighty works and wonders and signs which God 
did by him in the midst of you, even as ye your- 
selves know; him, being delivered up by the deter- 
minate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye by 
the hand of lawless men did crucify and slay : whom 
God raised up, having loosed the pangs of death : 
because it was not possible that he should be holden 
of it." 

This quotation gives the facts of the gospel that 
was to be preached among all nations, beginning 
at Jerusalem. These facts, that Christ was crucified, 
died for our sins, and arose from the dead, are the 
very life and soul of the whole matter of life and 
salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord. These 
facts, with their attendant precepts and promises, 
are what Paul meant when he said : " I am not 
ashamed of the gospel : for it is the power of God 
unto salvation to every one that believeth." And 
as the Holy Spirit was doing the preaching through 
Peter, we may be perfectly certain it was right. 

Having preached these foundation facts of the 
gospel, the speaker goes on to establish the resurrec- 
tion of Christ from the Jewish scriptures, showing 
to the Jews from their own prophecies that Christ 
was to be raised from the dead, and that their scrip- 
tures had foretold the very things he was preaching. 
In connection with his argument on the resurrec- 
tion from the dead, he showed that Christ was then 
seated at the right hand of God, and that he, hav- 
ing received from his Father the promise of the 
Holy Spirit, had sent forth the wonderful demon- 
strations they then saw and heard ; that they were 
then listening to the teaching of the power Jesus 
had himself sent down from heaven. This was a 



136 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

complete climax in the presentation of the gospel 
to those people. Then the Spirit said : " Let all the 
house of Israel therefore know assuredly, that God 
hath made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus 
whom ye crucified." This is an exceedingly strong 
demand for faith in the Son of God and in the gos- 
pel as presented on that day. It was a bold and in- 
dependent statement to their faces that the same 
Jesus whom they crucified was then both Lord and 
Christ at the right hand of God in heaven. 

Never on this earth was a grander sermon 
preached by mortal man than this. It was not the 
work of Peter, but of the Holy Spirit speaking 
through him. It shows what a work the promised 
baptism of the Spirit was to do for the apostles. 
This work enabled every Jew in Jerusalem that was" 
willing to open his eyes to realize that the preach- 
ing was thoroughly divine. The apostle could no 
more have preached such a sermon at such a time 
without divine aid than he could have created a 
world. So the vast crowd assembled there that day 
saw and realized that the whole thing was a divine 
demonstration, and that, therefore, the things 
preached that day were true, and they believed 
them. 

In believing these things, they realized that they 
were the betrayers and murderers of Jesus of Naz- 
areth, and that great guilt was upon them on ac- 
count of it. They were greatly moved by it, and 
they were anxious to know how they could escape 
this great guilt. " Now when they heard this, they 
were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter 
and the rest of the apostles, Brethren, what shall we 
do ? " The asking of this question indicates two 



How the Spirit of God Makes Christians. 137 

or three important items. First, it indicates that 
they fully believed the truths that had been 
preached ; that they then believed that the One they 
had given their voices against was truly the Son of 
God, and that they had greatly sinned in the con- 
demnation of the Just One. It also shows they had 
confidence in the ability of the apostles to tell them 
how they could be forgiven and saved from so great 
a sin in rejecting one so pure and holy as was the 
Son of God. In the next place, it indicated that 
they were willing to do anything in their power to 
escape the wrath of God. 

They evidently impressed the speakers that they 
were in such earnestness of heart that they were 
ready to do anything the Lord might require of 
them. So the answer was promptly given : "And 
Peter said unto them, Repent ye, and be baptized 
every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto 
the remission of your sins ; and ye shall receive the 
.gift of the Holy Spirit." Now let it be remembered 
that this answer was by the Holy Spirit. Peter 
only spoke as the Spirit gave him utterance. Sim- 
ply as a man, Peter would not have known how to 
answer it, because, up to that moment, it had not 
been revealed ; so no man then, as a man, knew what 
was requisite in the matter of becoming a Chris- 
tian, in obtaining the remission of past sins. But in 
this case we have the whole matter given directly 
from heaven by the Holy Spirit, and there can t>e 
no doubt about its truth. 

Three steps of obedience were required of them 
on that day. The first was faith, as already pre- 
sented. The next, repentance, as a positive com- 
mand : " Repent." This word " repent " involves a 



138 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

change of life, a turning away from sin and a turn- 
ing into the service of God. The next step is to be 
baptized; and this step is to be taken in the name, 
by the authority, of Christ. All authority in the 
whole matter of salvation was given into his hand 
when he died and rose again. This baptism is also 
■ " unto " — or, still more literally, " into " — the remis- 
sion of sins. That is the final end to which all 
these steps tend. The word " for " may very easily 
be misunderstood and misapplied in the obedience 
of the sinner; but to say " into remission " is plain- 
er, and shows perfectly at what time the sinner 
receives pardon, without any room for misunder- 
standing or misapplying a word in the sentence, 
while " into " is the literal meaning of the word 
rendered " for " in the Authorized Version. The 
strongest emphasis that can be put upon these three 
conditions of pardon is that each one is positively 
and emphatically required of God, and the promise 
of pardon to him that does them. 

These are the things the Holy Spirit required on 
the day of Pentecost, and no man that rejects these, 
or any one of them, has any promise of salvation 
from the Lord. Not only were these conditions re- 
quired of those people ; but the Holy Spirit, through 
Peter, exhorted them most earnestly to accept, em- 
brace, the requirements. The history of these con- 
versions closes in the following words : " They then 
that received his word were baptized : and there 
were added unto them in that day about three thou- 
sand souls." We have herein quoted all of the sec- 
ond chapter of Acts that especially bears upon the 
conversion of the three thousand so as to show in 
the Spirit's own words, and that in an unmis- 



How the Spirit of God Makes Christians. 139 

takable manner, how ~the Spirit converts sinners, 
how it makes Christians of them. 

Since we have the whole matter in the very words 
of the Spirit, we are ready to say, in all confidence, 
that all that do just what the three thousand did 
will be converted just as they were, and by the same 
Holy Spirit ; while those who do not do these things, 
no matter what else they may do, have no right to 
claim they were converted by the Holy Spirit. 
Shall we, then, follow the Holy Spirit or the wis- 
dom of men in this matter? No man can say the 
three thousand were not Christians without saying 
the word of God is not true, for Jesus said : " He 
that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." The 
Holy Spirit says : " Repent, . . . and be bap- 
tized . . . unto [into] the remission of your 
sins." Thus remission of sins is promised on doing 
just what the Spirit said do, and what the same 
Spirit says the three thousand did. Hence, on the 
other hand, to admit that they were Christians is to 
admit that as the way the Holy Spirit makes Chris- 
tians ; and since that is the only way in which peo- 
ple were made Christians in the days of the apos- 
tles, therefore those who rely upon anything else as 
conversion are without any promise from God that 
they are pardoned. 

Uninspired men tell sinners several things these 
days that are not hinted at in this chapter, and prom- 
ise them salvation when they do them ; and when 
they accept these outside opinions of men, they have 
not even the shadow of a promise from God that 
they will be saved. Human opinions cannot save 
men ; therefore those that rely upon such things 
are deluded, are led to rely upon man's wisdom in- 



140 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

stead of the wisdom and power of God, and are thus 
stranded by the doctrines and commandments of 
men. These things are indeed sad, but true ; yet 
they are told the Holy Spirit does the work for 
them. Modern meetings are wholly unlike the 
meetings we read about in the New Testament. In 
the meeting on the day of Pentecost, which we have 
had before us in this discourse, about three thou- 
sand were baptized in one day. But this meeting 
was conducted by the Holy Spirit ; while these mod- 
ern meetings are conducted by uninspired men, who 
are not satisfied with the simple way the Spirit of 
God conducted them, and get up new devices of 
their own, and the people accept them, and are thus 
led away from the wisdom and word of God, and 
are deluded into accepting things wholly unknown 
to the oracles of God. 

Another item in the Lord's way is that in going 
the way the Spirit directs, we are thereby led into 
Christ ; for it takes the things the Holy Spirit di- 
rects to put us into him. In the commission Jesus 
gave the apostles, he said : " Go ye therefore, and 
make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them 
into the name of the Father and of the Son and of 
the Holy Spirit." (Matt. 28: 19.) It takes faith, 
repentance, and baptism to get into Christ, because 
people cannot get to baptism till they believe and 
repent ; nor can they complete the work of getting 
into Christ by faith and repentance, for the above 
says : " Baptizing them into the name of the Father 
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." So there is 
no way of getting into Christ, except the way the 
Holy Spirit led the three thousand into him. Those 
who try any other way will fail. 



Sufficiency and Power of the Word of God. 141 



CHAPTER XII. 



Sufficiency and Power of the Word of God. 



This is a subject every child of God should in- 
vestigate very carefully. By a large portion of the 
religious world at the present time the word of God 
is regarded as insufficient, both in the conversion of 
sinners and in the work, worship, and government 
of the church. With a large part of the denomina- 
tional world the word of God is wholly insufficient 
for the conversion of sinners. None of their preach- 
ers rely upon the word of God to convert people. 
They may differ as to wherein the word is insuffi- 
cient, but in one way or another they all make that 
point. Some say the word is a dead letter, and, 
therefore, totally unable to convict and convert the 
sinner. These generally claim, also, that the sinner 
is totally depraved, and, therefore, unable to under- 
stand and obey the word until the Spirit shall enter 
and quicken and convert the soul. 

Of course those who believe either one of these 
never attempt to teach the word to the sinner as 
preached by the apostles, nor make any attempt to 
lead him to obey the wordT Why should they, when 
they think both the sinner and the word are dead? 
The word of God, if dead, surely would have no 
power to move one that is dead. Either one of these 
theories entirely destroys all effect of the word, and 
it would be supreme folly for any man that be- 



142 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

lieves either of them to attempt to teach or im- 
press the word of God upon a dead heart, or to try- 
to induce any sort of a heart to obey a dead and 
powerless word. Either one of these doctrines 
leaves the sinner exposed to just any wind of doc- 
trine the preacher may present, which generally de- 
ludes and leads him to depend upon some dreamy, 
mystical influence, instead of leading him to depend 
upon and obey the plain word of the Lord, as did 
the apostles. In this way thousands are cheated out 
of the benefits of the gospel and the salvation of 
their souls, though Jesus died to save them. 

Then there are others that, while they talk about 
the importance of the word of God, will tell the 
sinner the word can never affect and move his heart 
till the Spirit comes and applies the word and makes 
it effective. This idea also will prevent people from 
attempting to understand and obey the word and be 
saved. The men that advocate these theories en- 
tirely destroy the influence of the word of God, and 
never fail to substitute something in its place the 
Bible says nothing about. Thus the word of God 
is made void by the doctrines and commandments 
of men. 

Those who do not believe the word of God is 
sufficient to guide in the worship, work, and 
government of the church, make null and void the 
word of God in these things, and put human legis- 
lation, human wisdom, and human creeds in its 
place. Each church has its own fancies, inventions, 
and creeds, by which the members are governed. 
Hence, some churches are governed by one code of 
human wisdom, and some by another ; but all 
churches not governed by the word of God are gov- 



Sufficiency and Power of the Word of God, 143 

erned by human wisdom. This is self-evident, and 
no need of argument to support it. No matter what 
the origin or name, every religious organization 
on earth not governed by the word of God is not" 
only controlled by human wisdom, but is itself, of 
necessity, a human organization. It is over human 
wisdom that divisions exist; and on account of the 
human wisdom that is in them, these divisions are 
perpetuated. All religious people that are gov- 
erned in all things by the word of God are one. But 
the proper thing to do in regard to these matters is 
to examine the word of God, and see if anywhere in 
all the Bible there was ever any defect, weakness, 
or any sort of insufficiency in the word of God for 
the accomplishment of any end the Lord intended 
it to accomplish ; see if there was ever an instance 
in which the word of God failed because of ineffi- 
ciency in it, or any case in which any other power 
had to be added, such as sending the Holy Spirit 
to apply or in any way make it effective. 

When, in the work of creation, God said, " Let 
there be light/' we are immediately told : "And there 
was light." "And God said, Let the waters under 
the heavens be gathered together unto one place, 
and let the dry land appear : and it was so." "And 
God said, Let the earth put forth grass, herbs yield- 
ing seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their 
kind, wherein is the seed thereof, upon the earth : 
and it was so." "And God said, Let us make man 
in our image, after our likeness : and let them have 
dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds 
of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over all the 
earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth 
upon the earth. And God created man in his own 



144 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

image, in the image of God created he him ; male 
and female created he them." Just as was ex- 
pressed in his word, all these things were done. 

The whole of the first chapter of Genesis is given 
precisely the same way. By the power and wisdom 
of God his word was executed and the work of cre- 
ation was accomplished. There is nothing grander 
in human language than the above. We do not 
need to put our imaginations to work to try to de- 
termine the way that light was brought 'into exist- 
ence ; it is quite enough for us to believe what is 
plainly said : " Let there be light : and there was 
light." It would but be bewildering to try to tell 
anything about this wonderful passage more than 
is plainly expressed in the words used. " He spake, 
and it was done ; he commanded, and it stood fast." 
(Ps. 33: 9.) These things David said in connection 
with the mighty work of creation. One thing is 
perfectly certain in these matters ; and that is, the 
word of God was not a dead letter when the uni- 
verse was made. " By the word of Jehovah were 
the heavens made, and all the host of them by the 
breath of his mouth." (Verse 6.) So all this uni- 
verse was made by the word of God. To read such 
passages and then say the word of God is a dead let- 
ter, is to discard the truth of the Bible. The trouble 
in the whole matter is, men do not believe what the 
word of God says. 

God said he would bring a flood upon the earth 
and destroy man, whom he had created. It is evi- 
dent the Lord meant it would be so unless they 
would repent, for he sent Noah to them, a preacher 
of righteousness, endowed by the Spirit of Christ; 
but they regarded him not. Then all that was ex- 



Sufficiency and Power of the Word of God. 145 

pressed in the words regarding the flood and the 
destruction of man was accomplished. The word 
of God, then, was just as Paul expressed it in the 
New Testament : " For the word of God is living, 
and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword." 
(Heb. 4: 12.) The power necessary to bring those 
words to pass was in God, who uttered the words, 
and all that was expressed was accomplished, and 
all were destroyed, except Noah and his family, and 
they were saved by the word of God. God told 
Noah what to do, and he did it and was saved, just 
as the word of God said. Noah built the ark when 
God told him to do so, and built it just as God said, 
and did everything connected with it just as the 
word of God said, took everything into it he was 
commanded, and was saved just as the word said. 
Those words were living, active words, and accom- 
plished their end. If the rest of those antedilu- 
vians had obeyed the preaching, had repented of 
their sins, had turned from all their evil ways, and 
had submitted to the will of the Lord, that obedi- 
ence would have put them in proper condition to be 
saved, would have given them a character that 
would have justified God in sparing them ; but they 
did not, and, like many others, were destroyed for 
their sins. 

These things show very clearly the sufficiency and 
power of the word ; but there is no power in all the 
universe that will save sinners when they refuse to 
obey the word of God and go on in sin and rebellion 
against God. There is no power that will force men 
to do God's will. That is left to man's choice. 
When men are willing to accept and obey the word, 
God always blesses them. When they reject the 
10 



146 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

word and refuse to obey, ruin will follow. The 
word of God would have saved those people before 
the flood if they had only repented at the preach- 
ing of Noah as the Ninevites did at the preaching 
of Jonah. They were saved because they so re- 
pented at the preaching of Jonah as to fit them to be 
saved. It was then just as much God's will to spare 
Nineveh as it would have been for him to destroy it 
if they had refused to repent. So sinners must get 
out of their sins to be spared and saved, for God 
will not save them in their sins. 

When God commanded Moses and Aaron to speak 
to the rock in Horeb, he would have continued to 
bless and exalt them among the Jewish people if 
they had obeyed him ; but they disobeyed him, and 
spoke to the people instead of speaking to the rock, 
and then smote the rock, which God had not com- 
manded. On account of this they both were 
doomed to die outside the promised land, and the 
word of God that told them so was literally carried 
out. It would have been so much more pleasing 
to the Lord to bless them, had they obeyed him, 
than it was to thus doom them. " I have no 
pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the 
Lord Jehovah : wherefore turn yourselves, and live." 
(Ezek. 18: 32.) So when the sinner rejects the 
word of God and is doomed, or lost, it is his own 
fault. He could have obeyed if he would, and God 
would have taken much greater delight in saving 
him in his obedience than in dooming him for his 
disobedience. 

God, through Isaiah, said : " For as the rain 
cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and re- 
turneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and 



Sufficiency and Power of the Word of God. 147 

maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed 
to the sower, and bread to the eater : so shall my 
word be that goeth forth out of my mouth : it shall 
not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish 
that which I please, and it shall prosper in the th.ng 
w^hereto I sent it." (Isa. 55: 10, 11.) This is what 
God himself says about his own word. This is in 
a prophecy concerning the plan of salvation, and it 
expresses a principle that is always true in regard 
to the word of God. The rain and the snow accom- 
plish the ends God ordained them to accomplish, 
and so his word will accomplish the things he or- 
dained for it to accomplish. 

All that God ever foretold about Christ, and what 
he was to do, has been or will yet be accomplished, 
until the last soul that embraces it and lives it out 
shall be eternally saved by it, and all who reject it 
shall be lost, just as foretold. God foretold the 
town in which Christ was to be born, which was 
Bethlehem. He foretold the Egyptian trip, saying: 
" Out of Egypt have I called my Son." He fore- 
told he should be called a Nazarene, and he was, 
as he dwelt at Nazareth. He also foretold most 
beautiful things about his life and teaching, and ev- 
ery Bible reader knows they were all fulfilled. Ev- 
erybody that has read the New Testament, or knows 
anything about its teaching, knows that every word 
of prophecy regarding the Son of God was fulfilled 
to the very letter. 

His wisdom was such as no one had ever pos- 
sessed on this earth before. He was so full of di- 
vine wisdom and knowledge that he always knew 
in a moment what to say, when to say it, to whom, 
and how to say it. He needed not to call the wise 



148 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

and great among men to counsel with them what to 
say or what to do. He had within him all the coun- 
sel he needed, and was always ready in a moment 
to answer the most difficult questions the wisest 
of earth could ask, and in a way that would always 
put his enemies to silence and make them ashamed 
of themselves. The shrewdest enemies he had on 
earth would plan and counsel together, and frame 
difficulties they thought it impossible for him to 
solve without being caught on the one side or the 
other ; and yet he would answer without a moment's 
study, and answer in a way that their tact and 
shrewdness could not do a thing with, and they 
would always realize they were beaten, while he 
was in full triumph over them. He never had occa- 
sion to ask even the Sanhedrin, the highest and 
wisest council known on this earth, one single thing 
as to what to say or do ; and yet he never made a 
mistake. The Spirit of the Lord was upon him, and 
always guided him in the right way. 

Let those who claim that the word of God is a dead 
letter explain how these prophecies concerning him 
were so accurately and wonderfully fulfilled. God 
had sent forth these words, and they did not return 
void. They brought out the very end intended by 
Him who uttered them. 

Again, Isaiah said, regarding the influence of the 
life and teaching of Jesus : " The wolf also shall 
dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down 
with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and 
the fatling together; and a little child shall lead 
them. . . . They shall not hurt nor destroy in 
all my holy mountain ; for the earth shall be full of 
the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the 



Sufficiency and Power of the Word of God. 149 

sea." (Isa. 11: 6-9.) All readers of the New Tes- 
tament know that the very characteristics of peace, 
unity, and harmlessness indicated by these utter : 
ances have been manifested wherever the teaching 
of Christ and the teaching of the Holy Spirit 
through the apostles have gone, as has been appar- 
ent in the lives of all those that have yielded their 
hearts and lives to this teaching, and will be to the 
close of time ; for the teaching of Christ and his 
apostles will always produce such characters in all 
that place themselves under its controlling influ- 
ence and power. The meekness of the lamb was "al- 
ways manifested in the life of the Son of God, while 
the savageness of the wolf and lion will be brought 
down to the peacefulness of the lamb in all sinners 
who embrace the gospel and live as Jesus and the 
apostles have taught. Wonderful indeed are the 
words of God that were delivered so long ago in re- 
gard to the results of the religion of Christ, and 
which have already been accomplished, and which 
will through all time and eternity continue to de- 
velop the characteristics so strikingly foretold in 
them. 

And when we come to examine the teaching of 
the New Testament, there is a continued develop- 
ment of these principles, the sufficiency and power 
of the word of God. John the Baptist accomplished 
marvelous things by preaching the plain word of the 
Lord. It was said of him before his birth : "And 
many of the children of Israel shall he turn unto 
the Lord their God." (Luke 1 : 16.) This indicates 
a wonderful work for John. The history of him as 
given in the four Gospels shows that he did do a 
wonderful work, even all that was foretold of him. 



150 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

But how did he do so great a work? By preaching 
the word of God. It was not by his own wis- 
dom and power that he did this great work. He 
preached the word of God by the inspiration of the 
Holy Spirit, and it was the word of God, believed 
and obeyed, that did the work. So the word of 
God through John made ready a people for the Lord. 
In this way he prepared men to be the apostles of 
the Son of God, and many other men, besides those 
godly women, who took such an interest in the great 
and wonderful work Christ did, the astonishing mir- 
acles he performed, and who were so tenderly de- 
voted to him. They were the first ones to report that 
he had risen from the dead on the morning of the 
first day of the week. The word that John preached 
was the word of God, dictated, inspired, by the Holy 
Spirit. Hence, it was only needful for those people 
to hear that word, receive it into their hearts, and 
obey it from their hearts, in order for it to transform 
them into the servants, the followers, of Christ. 
There was power enough in the word of God to do 
all that was done for those people when they re- 
ceived it into their hearts and lives and gave it a 
chance. What stronger illustration does any one 
need of the power and sufficiency of the word of 
God than the effect the word that John preached 
had upon their hearts and lives in turning them to 
God and preparing them to be fellow-workers with 
Christ in the great work of salvation ? 

Then, when Christ began his personal ministry, 
he did a still more powerful work than John. In 
the first place, when Jesus had been baptized, he 
fell into the most important conflict that ever was 
planned by the power of Satan. It was nothing 



Sufficiency and Power of the Word of God. 151 

less than a deeply laid scheme to draw Christ from 
the grand mission upon which he had come into the 
world, and thus defeat the redemption of man by 
leading the intended Redeemer into the service of 
Satan. No tongue can express the loss to this 
world if Satan could have accomplished his end. 
And why did he not? , Jesus was clothed in human 
flesh, as were Adam and Eve ; and we all know how 
easy it is for human flesh to yield to temptation. 
Eden, with all its charms, was lost that way. It 
is certain, too, that Christ was tempted in all things 
like as we are. How, then, was that awful catas- 
trophe averted? Simply by the word of God. Je- 
sus had the word of God in mind, which is the very 
power God has ordained to keep men from yielding 
to temptation. 

Satan knew man's weakest point. He had al- 
ready led man into sin and ruin and defeated all 
the endearments of the earthly paradise God had 
established for man. He shrewdly watched his 
chances, and made his attack when Christ had fasted 
forty days and forty nights, and when every fiber 
and every muscle in his body was demanding food, 
and when hunger was at its very highest tension, 
and said : " If thou art the Son of God, command 
that these stones become bread." Jesus, though 
so hungry, had the right weapon ready for his de- 
fense, which was his Father's word. " But he an- 
swered and said, It is written, Man shall not live 
by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth 
out of the mouth of God." That was enough. It 
was the word of God. Jesus knew it, and deter- 
mined to stand by it. There was nothing left that 
Satan could do. He knew he could not overcome 



152 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

the power of God, knew that God takes care of those 
that obey him. Jesus was firm in doing his Fa- 
ther's will. This was a complete defense. Satan, 
as soon as he saw that Jesus was determined to 
stand by the word of his Father, gave up that line 
of temptation, and the victory to Jesus was com- 
plete — all gained through the word of God. The 
other two trials were overcome and complete vic- 
tories gained by the Savior the same way. 

What a beautiful and forcible illustration of the 
power of God's word ! His word, obeyed, will save 
all of us ; rejected, it will condemn us all. Those 
who obey are saved because their obedience pre- 
pares them to be saved, and God has promised and 
is able to save all such. Jesus says of his sheep, 
those who follow him : "And I give unto them eter- 
nal life ; and they shall never perish, and no one 
shall snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who 
hath given them unto me, is greater than all ; and 
no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's 
hand." (John 10: 28, 29.) So all the power of 
heaven is pledged to save all those who faithfully 
do the will of God. Doing the will of God makes 
the character that God promises to save, and no 
other power can prevent it. This is the way the 
word of God is " able to save the soul." Yet so 
many have been turned away from the word of God 
and lost by being taught that it is dead, will not 
save, or something else thrust upon them instead of 
the word of God, which alone can prepare the soul 
for salvation, and then only when obeyed. How 
sad that there are so many people that have no con- 
fidence in the sufficiency and power of the word of 



Sufficiency and Power of the Word of God. 153 

God, and that thus the blind lead the blind into the 
ditch altogether ! 

The gospel of the Son of God as expressed in 
words has life-producing power in it, and will save 
unless other things hinder. The god of this world 
may blind and hinder; but the gospel, received and 
obeyed, will certainly save. The parables of Je- 
sus, as that of the sower, abundantly show that 
the gospel of Christ as preached by the apostles is 
able to save the whole world, if they will obey it. 
"And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, 
and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He 
that believeth and is baptized shall be saved ; but 
he that disbelieveth shall be condemned." (Mark 
16: 15, 16.) When the gospel was preached on the 
day of Pentecost and at Solomon's portico, many 
heard, believed, were baptized, and saved. Many 
thousands are spoken of in Acts of Apostles that 
heard, believed, repented, were baptized, and saved 
from their past sins. In all the conversions re- 
corded in this book there is not a hint of there be- 
ing any other sort of converting power present to 
apply the word preached to the hearts of the peo- 
ple. Nothing of the sort was needed, since it was 
the Holy Spirit itself that did the preaching. If 
the Spirit itself cannot impress, move, and convert 
people through its own words addressed to the un- 
derstanding of men, in reason's name, what can? 
Jesus said : " It is the spirit that giveth life ; the 
flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I have spoken 
unto you are spirit, and are life." (John 6 : 63.) The 
word of God, therefore, spoken to us by the Holy 
Spirit through Christ and the apostles, will as cer- 



154 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

tainly impart spiritual life as that the word of God 
is true. 

The gospel is God's power to save, and comes to 
us in words, the words of the Holy Spirit, with the 
promise of salvation to all that obey its require- 
ments ; and is not God just as able to fulfill his 
promises now as he was to fulfill the prophecies con- 
cerning Christ? To say the word of God is a dead 
letter is simply to discount the whole Bible, from 
the first sentence of the book of Genesis to the last 
"Amen " of Revelation. Is it not strange that men 
set aside the word of God which has all the power 
of God, of Christ, and of the Holy Spirit to back it, 
and then thrust upon the people* the opinions of men, 
which have nothing under heaven to back them 
or fulfill them but men, when God says, " It is not in 
man that walketh to direct his steps? " And is it not 
equally strange that men will accept the opinions of 
men and risk the eternal interests of their souls upon 
them, when they have in their own homes the pre- 
cious word of God just as God gave it, and in their 
own tongue wherein they were born? 

Why not all say with the godly Joshua: "As for 
me and my house, we will serve the Lord?" This 
can be done only by hearing, believing, and obeying 
the word of God and trusting his divine and precious 
promises. " Every one therefore that heareth these 
words of mine, and doeth them, shall be likened 
unto a wise man, who built his house upon the rock : 
and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the 
winds blew, and beat upon that house ; and it fell 
not : for it was founded upon the rock." (Matt. 
7: 24, 25.) "To him that overcometh, to him will 



Sufficiency and Power of the Word of God. 155 

I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst 
of the Paradise of God." (Rev. 2: 7.) Surely the 
word of God in its own simplicity ought to satisfy 
all. 



156 Gospel Lessons and Life History, 



CHAPTER XIII. 



Conversion of Saul of Tarsus. 



There have been very many erroneous impressions 
made over the conversion of this man, which seems 
strange, since inspiration has recorded it in the New 
Testament; and there is not a plainer case recorded, 
if we gather up all that is said about him and make 
the second chapter of Acts the standard by which 
to judge the case. The conversion of the three 
thousand is the first case under the fully developed 
state of the kingdom, and is the fullest and most 
complete statement of conversion found on any one 
occasion, and should be made the standard, because 
the proclamation of the gospel was to begin at Je- 
rusalem, and thence go to the ends of the earth and 
to the end of time. If we compare the conversion 
of the three thousand with the three records of the 
commission recorded in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, 
we find them to agree perfectly, which shows that 
of the three thousand to be infallibly right. So 
when we show the conversion of Saul to harmonize 
exactly with these, we thereby show perfect agree- 
ment and harmony and full unity between the 
commission and the application of it by divine au- 
thority. 

The first we find on record of the case of this 
very remarkable man is found in the ninth chapter 
of Acts. " But Saul, yet breathing threatening and 



Conversion of Saul of Tarsus. 157 

slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went 
unto the high priest, and asked of him letters to 
Damascus unto the synagogues, that if he found 
any that were of the Way, whether men or women, 
he might bring them bound to Jerusalem." (Verses 
1, 2.) Thus we find him a busy, wicked persecutor 
of the Lord's' people. If any man needed conver- 
sion, he certainly did. He was exceedingly ag- 
gressive and bitter in his work, not only causing 
those that came in his way to be punished, but 
madly rushing off to a strange city to carry on his 
nefarious work. Yet he claimed to do it as a mat- 
ter of religious service to God. But there is one 
thing about his madness a little peculiar; that is, 
he thought he was doing right. This fact opens 
the way for him to be forgiven, and gives opportu- 
nity to exhibit the delusion of the false claim of 
many, that whatever a man really thinks to be 
right, is right to him. If this principle were true 
in any case, it certainly would have been true with 
Saul of Tarsus. He says of himself: "I verily 
thought with myself that I ought to do many things 
contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth." (Acts 
26 : 9.) Again : "And Paul, looking steadfastly on 
the council, said, Brethren, I have lived before God 
in all good conscience until this day." (Acts 23 : 1.) 
So he was honest, conscientious, in all this terri- 
ble work, and did what he sincerely thought he 
ought to do. 

But the question in the matter is: Did his think- 
ing it was right make it right ? Most assuredly not ; 
and as it was not right in him, that principle is not 
right with anybody now. Paul was very thankful 
that he had received this mercy. " Though I was 



158 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and inju- 
rious: howbeit I obtained mercy, because I did it 
ignorantly in unbelief ; and the grace of our Lord 
abounded exceedingly with faith and love which is 
in Christ Jesus." (1 Tim. 1: 13, 14.) He does not 
try to justify himself for a moment in the great sins 
of blasphemy and persecution ; he only claimed that 
he obtained mercy because he committed those 
things ignorantly in unbelief. This indicates that 
if he had done those things with his eyes open, 
realizing that Jesus was the Son of God, there would 
have been no pardon for him ; for he indicates in 
that same connection that, as it was, he was chief 
of sinners. He was so great a sinner that he re- 
garded it a great stretch of mercy that he could be 
saved at all. But when, through faith and love to 
God, he yielded himself fully to the demands of the 
gospel, he was forgiven, though so great a sinner. 
So the case of Saul shows beyond a peradventure 
that a man's doing what he thinks to be right 
makes it right to him, is as great a mistake as 
shortsighted man ever made. It is an exceedingly 
dangerous delusion, and has doubtless blinded many 
to their ruin. There is not a shadow of foundation 
for the truth of such a position. 

It is not sufficient for a man to do what he sin- 
cerely thinks is right ; he must actually and ear- 
nestly do what God says do. Then he is infallibly 
safe. Uzza thought he was doing right to lay his 
hands on the ark of God to keep it from falling 
from the new cart. Instead, however, of its being 
right, he immediately died for his error. No man 
has any promise from God that he will be saved, ex- 
cept upon doing what God commands to be done. 



Conversion of Saul of Tarsus. 159 

The aDove is the claim made in behalf of the 
pious unimmersed. It is claimed they are honest in 
thinking that sprinkling is scriptural baptism, and 
they verily and honestly thought they were doing 
right when they were sprinkled, and that God in 
his mercy will save them. Let it be remembered 
that Saul of Tarsus was as honest as any of them, 
for he verily thought he ought to do many things 
against Christ and his followers ; yet he acknowl- 
edged that he was a great sinner. None of them 
can claim greater honesty than Uzza. People de- 
ceive themselves when they decide they will be 
saved, or that their friends will be saved, because 
they think they were right when they did what God 
never ordained, and rely on him to save them. All 
such are risking their souls on the doctrines and 
commandments of men, which, Jesus says, make 
void the commandments of God. 

But we will now look more carefully into the con- 
version of Saul, and see if we can ascertain when 
and where and how he was converted. He was 
converted, that is certain ; and certainly we can find 
out how it was done. There are three records of 
this conversion given in Acts of Apostles, and quite 
a number of allusions to it in the letters of this 
apostle to the churches. Surely, with all this in- 
formation, we can ascertain how it was effected. 
In the chapter from which we first quoted we find 
Saul securing authority from the chief priests to go 
to Damascus to arrest all he could find calling on 
the name of the Lord. "And as he journeyed, it 
came to pass that he drew nigh unto Damascus : and 
suddenly there shone round about him a light out 
of heaven : and he fell upon the earth, and heard a 



160 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest 
thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And 
he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest." (Acts 
9 : 3-5.) This was a very wonderful occurrence. 
This was not a light to enlighten" his mind, but a 
wonderful light to his physical eyes. In another 
place he says this was above the brightness of the 
sun. It is generally supposed that this brilliant 
light was from the glorified body of the Son of God. 
On the mount of transfiguration " his face did shine 
as the sun, and his garments became white as 
the light" (Matt. 17: 2), and it may have been a 
similar light that shone round about Saul, only more 
intense. 

But the question is : What did this light do for 
him? Did it convert him? Surely not; for when 
the voice spoke out to him, he did not know who 
it was, and inquired: " AVho art thou, Lord?" If 
it had been some sort of converting power sent 
to convert him, he would have known who was 
there — would have known that the Lord did it ; but 
he did not. So he asked who it was. Then the an- 
swer quickly came : " I am Jesus." These words, 
with the accompanying signs, thoroughly convinced 
Saul for the first time that Jesus was truly the 
Christ, the Son of the living God. He was greatly 
astonished and awe-stricken ; but, believing it was 
true, he suddenly cried out : " Lord, what wilt thou 
have me to do ? " As he did not know who it was 
until this answer came, of course he did not, and 
could not, believe on him till this answer was given. 
So when the light had spent its force upon him, he 
was still an unbeliever, and remained an unbeliever 
till the voice answered : " I am Jesus." 



Conversion of Saul of Tarsus. 161 

He had all the time thought he was persecuting 
an impostor. Now all at once he realizes that he 
was persecuting the Son of God. He must have felt 
perfectly horrified at such a sudden, unexpected 
personal presence of the Lord of glory ; but he so 
far recovered from the shock as to ask, with all the 
stress he could throw into it : " What shall I do, 
Lord ? " "And the Lord said unjo me, Arise, and 
go into Damascus ; and there it shall be told thee 
of all things which are appointed for thee to do." 
(Acts 22 : 10.) In the Common Version this is re- 
corded as asked by Saul (Acts 9:6); but in the 
American Revised Version it is left out here, but re- 
corded at the same point in the history in Acts 22, 
as above. In this chapter Paul himself is relating 
this exciting appearance of the Lord to him. So 
there is no question of its being genuine in this oc- 
currence of it. 

'This was with him a momentous question. He 
at this moment for the first time realized his great 
sin in persecuting the Lord by persecuting his peo- 
ple. So he must have meant by this anxious ques- 
tion : What shall I do to get rid of, or to escape 
from, the penalty, the ruin that might befall me on 
account of these sins? He may not have under- 
stood the gospel well enough to have meant what 
he should do to be saved, to become a Christian, but 
the question he asked included that ; hence, the Lord 
gave him an answer that covered all the ground 
by saying : " Enter into the city, and it shall be told 
thee." Hence, he was not only not saved at this 
point, but knew nothing as to what was necessary 
to be done to be saved by the gospel. It is, there- 
fore, absurd and utterly contrary to the history in 
11 



1 62 m Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

the case to talk about Saul's having been converted 
by that light that caused him to fall to the earth 
and made him blind. 

So he was led by the hand into the city — sight all 
gone. There he remained, blind, in deep penitence, 
and in the deepest anxiety and in prayer, waiting 
for the promised answer. Likely three more anx- 
ious days were never spent than these three days 
spent by Saul in Damascus waiting for that longed- 
for answer. He knew he had sinned greatly, and 
was anxious to know how relief was to come. He 
doubtless meditated, sorrowed much over his rash 
course, and prayed earnestly and anxiously for the 
answer to come, hoping it would bring relief. The 
Lord gave him time for reflection and sorrow over 
his wrongs, and for getting ready for a thorough 
reformation of his life, while he was suffering the 
deepest anxiety as to what disposition the Lord 
would make of his case. 

In the meantime there was one Ananias, who was 
a disciple of Christ in Damascus, to whom the Lord 
spoke and called his attention to Saul, and said to 
him : "Arise, and go to the street which is called 
Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one 
named Saul, a man of Tarsus : for behold, he pray- 
eth ; and he hath seen a man named Ananias com- 
ing in, and laying his hands on him, that he might 
receive his sight." (Verses 11, 12.) But Ananias 
had already heard of his wicked persecutions, and 
how he was there armed with authority from the 
chief priests to bind all that should call upon the 
name of the Lord. But the Lord reassured him, 
and " said unto him, Go thy way : for he is a chosen 
vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gen- 



Conversion of Saul of Tarsus. 163 

tiles and kings, and the children of Israel : for I 
will show him how many things he must suffer 
for my name's sake." (Verses 15, 16.) 

These things removed all fear from Ananias, leav- 
ing nothing else for him to do but to go. "And 
Aananias departed, and entered into the house; and 
laying his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the 
Lord, even Jesus, who appeared unto thee in the 
way which thou earnest, hath sent me, that thou 
mayest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy 
Spirit." (Verse 17.) We do not know much about 
Ananias, only that he was a disciple of Christ, and 
had been a man devoted to the law, as Saul had 
been ; but he had become a Christian, and was en- 
dowed with some sort of spiritual gift that enabled 
him to perform miracles by laying hands on peo- 
ple. He was sent by the Lord to Saul for two pur- 
poses, which appear in the last verse quoted, which 
were that Saul might receive his sight and be filled 
with the Holy Spirit. Some tell us that none had 
the power to confer the Holy Spirit, save the apos- 
tles, and that, therefore, Ananias did not confer it 
upon Saul. We are not able to see what is gained 
in any way by advocating such a theory, and thus 
nullifying this and some other passages to main- 
tain it. It is plain that Ananias did open the eyes 
of Saul in a miraculous way when he laid hands 
on him, and that the obstructions fell off like scales ; 
and why the Lord could not or did not confer the 
Holy Spirit through Ananias just as easily as to 
open his eyes, we cannot see. The orders given 
Ananias plainly express that imparting of the Holy 
Spirit was to be as much the result of his going to 
Saul as the opening of his eyes. 



164 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

This passage is so plain that Ananias conferred 
the Spirit upon Saul that there is nothing left to be 
done but to accept it or to ignore the passage alto- 
gether. We know that Saul's eyes were opened 
when Ananias went to him and laid hands on him. 
Now who is able to say that the Spirit was not con- 
ferred then? Saul began preaching at once. How 
was he able to begin at once to preach the things 
he had so long discarded as false and a delusion? 
He could not, without much teaching, enlightening, 
in some way; and we have no information that 
Ananias stayed with him to teach him ; and, be- 
sides, he went to preaching at once after his bap- 
tism. "And straightway there fell from his eyes 
as it were scales, and he received his sight ; and he 
arose and was baptized." (Verse 18.) "And now 
why tarriest thou ? arise, and be baptized, and wash 
away thy sins, calling on his name." (Acts 22 : 16.) 

We can now begin to determine when Saul's sins 
were pardoned. W T hen Ananias approached Saul, 
he was then an earnest believer on Christ, and had 
been for three days. He was not only a believer, 
but he was penitent. His faith began to grow and 
to bear fruit ; he repented sorely, and was so deeply 
concerned that for three days and nights he fasted, 
ate nothing. He had been changed from a wicked 
persecutor to an humble penitent in a very short 
time. So, when Ananias reached him, he lacked 
but one of the three conditions of pardon, and that 
was baptism. Faith, repentance, and baptism are 
the three conditions that were required on the day 
of Pentecost and that were specified in the com- 
mission. It is certain, also, that Saul was not par- 
doned before his baptism, for he was told to be bap- 



Conversion of Saul of Tarsus. 165 

tized and wash away his sins ; so he was not par- 
doned, and could not be, before his baptism. While 
it is true that the water of baptism does not wash 
away sin, it is true that baptism is so closely con- 
nected with the name of Christ and his blood that 
people cannot form connection with these before 
baptism. The divine commission says : " Baptizing 
them into the name of the Father and of the Son 
and of the Holy Spirit." In Christ there is salva- 
tion ; out of him there is no promise of it. Since 
we are baptized into Christ, then we are not in him 
till that is performed ; so until Saul was baptized 
into Christ he had no promise of pardon. Yet men 
to-day teach that people are in Christ and are saved 
before baptism. 

But Paul makes no such claim for himself. We 
will now- present some things Paul as an apostle 
said as to where and when he and others were 
saved. He says of himself and the Romans : " Or 
are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized into 
Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? " (Rom. 
6: 3.) Paul's conversion cannot be called in ques- 
tion, because the Lord sent a man to tell him what 
to do who was himself able to perform miracles, 
and knew the truth, or tlie Lord would not have 
sent him. So he most certainly told him the truth, 
and the whole truth, so far as his duty was con- 
cerned ; and, besides, Paul was himself inspired 
from the time of his conversion to the end of his 
life. So if anything had been wrong about his con- 
version, or out of place, he would have known it 
and would have corrected it ; but he never did. So 
we are compelled to recognize his conversion as 
all right, and as a remarkably plain case of it. He 



1 66 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

was ready for a full entrance into Christ when An- 
anias reached him. His faith and repentance had 
made him ready in character. He believed on the 
Lord ; he had already turned from his wicked course 
in life, and was perfectly resigned to the Lord's will 
so far as he knew it. So when the information 
reached him that he must take this last step, should 
be baptized into Christ, he made no delay ; he 
obeyed at once. Then in the passage just quoted 
he tells us plainly that he was baptized into Christ. 
To doubt it is to doubt the truth of the Bible, God's 
own revelation to men. 

Then, next, as to whether he was in Christ or out 
of him when pardoned, we will let him settle that 
for us. When writing to the Ephesians and tell- 
ing the relationship in which they received pardon, 
he puts himself with them when speaking of Christ, 
and says : " In whom we have our redemption 
through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, 
according to the riches of his grace." (Eph. 1 : 7.) 
This tells us plainly that he and the Ephesians were 
in Christ when they received remission, and that 
this remission was through his blood. Hence, they 
had to come into Christ to reach his blood. Again, 
we learn from Paul : " To w T it, that God was in Christ 
reconciling the world unto himself, not reckoning 
unto them their trespasses, and having committed 
unto us the word of reconciliation." (2 Cor. 5 : 19.) 
So God is in Christ to reconcile and save sinners. 
When, therefore, we come into Christ, we reach all 
the power of heaven to save. We are then at once 
in Christ, in God, and are where the blood of Christ 
is. Surely this presents the matter plainly enough 
for all to understand it. 



Conversion of Saul of Tarsus, 167 

But how about those who claim salvation before 
baptism and those who accept something for bap- 
tism that God never ordained, and never submit to 
what God has ordained at all? If such are saved, 
they are saved out of Christ and of God and of the 
Holy Spirit, and where there is not the shadow of 
a promise of the benefits of the blood of Christ. 
They in reality have no covenant relation with God 
nor with Christ. They have not gone far enough 
in their obedience to reach such relation, and have 
no promise of the blessings. 

None have been baptized except those that have 
done just what the word itself expresses ; and Paul 
tells us plainly what that means, denning it by an- 
other word that is so explicit that none can for 
a moment doubt the action expressed : " We were 
buried therefore with him through baptism into 
death : that like as Christ was raised from the dead 
through the glory of the Father, so we also might 
walk in newness of life." (Rom. 6: 4.) The word 
" buried " means what it says, and cannot mean 
anything else ; but, to dodge immersion in water, 
many claim the passage is speaking of spiritual bap- 
tism. But, then, an insurmountable difficulty meets 
them on that line. The baptism called a " burial " 
puts people into Christ, as the preceding verse 
plainly expresses. Jesus settles this when he says 
in the commission : " Baptizing them into the name 
of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. ,, 
(Matt. 28: 19.) 

This baptism was to be performed by men, by 
the apostles, and they could not baptize people in 
the Holy Spirit. Christ alone did this, and it did 
not put people into Christ — as, for example, the 



168 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

apostles, on the day of Pentecost, who were bap- 
tized in the Spirit to inspire them for their work, 
not to put them into Christ. But Paul and the 
Romans were baptized by men into Christ, and in 
that same baptism they were buried, and that was 
in water. Ananias baptized Paul. He could bap- 
tize them in water, but not in the Holy Spirit. So 
Jie and the Romans were baptized, buried, im- 
mersed in water, " into the name of the Father and 
of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." No man that 
believes the Bible can say Paul's baptism was not 
all right. So this passage settles what the word 
" baptize " means, and settles the proposition that 
immersion in water puts people into Christ, when 
by faith and repentance they are prepared for it, as 
Paul and the Romans were. 

In this baptism there is a resurrection out of the 
element in which they were buried ; so if this pas- 
sage speaks of spiritual baptism, then they were 
buried in the Spirit, raised up out of it, and sepa- 
rated from it the rest of life. That proves so much 
that it "spoils the whole claim that it was in the 
Spirit. Hence, the simple truth in the case is that 
Paul was immersed in water, into Christ ; and all 
that would be saved like Paul must do as he did, 
for he did precisely what God requires all others 
to do, as did the Romans. 

But the question is asked : " If Christ did not con- 
vert Saul when he appeared to him by the way, 
what did he appear to him for? " People that claim 
conversion by some direct operation instead of by 
obeying the gospel cling closely to Saul, and 
strongly insist that he was converted that way ; but 
if those making that claim would only read all that 



Conversion of Saul of Tarsus. 169 

is said in connection with that case, they would 
find that Christ himself tells what he appeared to 
him for, Saul, in relating this appearance of the 
Lord to him and what he said to him, gives the fol- 
lowing: "And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And 
the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. 
But arise, and stand upon thy feet : for to this end 
have I appeared unto thee, to appoint thee a min- 
ister and a witness both of the things wherein thou 
hast seen me, and of the things wherein I will ap- 
pear unto thee ;'delivering thee from the people, and 
from the Gentiles, unto whom I send thee, . . . 
that they may turn from darkness to light and from 
the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive 
remission of sins and an inheritance among them 
that are sanctified by faith in me." (Acts 26: 15-18.) 
This passage is so plain that we see not how.it can 
be made plainer. The Savior just tells in a plain, 
straightforward manner that he had appeared to 
him to appoint him to be a minister and a witness 
of the things he had seen in him, and of the things 
in which he would appear to him ; that he would 
send him to the Gentiles to open their eyes, or, in 
other words, to preach the gospel to them, that they 
might turn from darkness to light, that they might 
embrace the gospel and be saved. This was a won- 
derful work he placed in his hands. And Paul goes 
right on in the same connection and says he was 
not disobedient to the heavenly vision ; that he be- 
gan in Damascus, then in Jerusalem, thence in all 
the country of Judea, and unto the Gentiles, preach- 
ing that they should repent and turn to God ; but 
not one word was said about his appearing to him 
to convert him. 



i jo Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

On the other hand, when he asked what he should 
do, he told him to go into the city and he should 
be told what to do. He went, was told what to do 
to be saved, and of the great work the Lord had 
for him to do ; so he at once obeyed the gospel, 
was saved, became a Christian, and went to preach- 
ing. His later history shows what a bold, hon- 
est, earnest man, Christian, and apostle he made. 
The appearance of the Savior to Saul, so that he 
saw him in his risen and glorified state, and receiv- 
ing his commission from him in person, made him 
a thorough and competent witness of the resurrec- 
rection and glorification of the Son of God. He 
could then say he had seen him and had heard the 
voice of his mouth. 

Add to this the promise of being filled with the 
Holy Spirit, and you have a well-equipped apostle, 
ready to preach the glorious gospel of Christ, which, 
he af once began to do, and continued it to the 
close of his life. On the other hand, his prompt 
obedience to the gospel, when Ananias told him 
what to do, put him into Christ and made him 
a child of God. He tells us : " For the law of the 
Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from 
the law of sin and of death." (Rom. 8: 2.) The 
law of the Spirit as here mentioned is evidently the 
law of conversion as presented by the Spirit through 
Peter on the day of Pentecost, which holds good 
to the present time, and makes all Christians who 
in sincerity and truth obey it as did the three thou- 
sand and Saul of Tarsus. It is very strange that 
people will misapply the word of God to sustain 
theories and human inventions. The word of God 
is plain, if all were willing to accept it. 



Conversion of Lydia and Her Household. 171 



CHAPTER XIV. 



Conversion of Lydia and Her Household. 



The very fact that there has long been, and still 
is, much controversy and many erroneous opinions 
over this conversion makes it the more important 
that we study it carefully, that we may see what 
is really taught in it. If there was any secret op- 
eration of the Holy Spirit upon her heart at the 
time of her conversion, we ought to know it. So 
her conversion is worthy of careful examination. 

Paul and Silas were at Troas, on the ^Egean Sea, 
a convenient seaport town from which to take sail 
for Macedonia, just across that narrow sea. "And 
a vision appeared to Paul in the night : There was 
a man of Macedonia standing, beseeching him, and 
saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us." 
(Acts 16: 9.) Here is a direct, miraculous, and 
special call to Paul to go over into Macedonia and 
help them. Paul and his companion had been 
preaching in Asia Minor for some time, and now 
the Lord had work for them in Macedonia, and so 
notified them. It is worthy of note, also, that the 
Spirit had twice notified them already not to preach 
longer in Asia, and on this very account they had 
come to Troas, and were there awaiting further 
orders : and then this vision appeared to Paul, mak- 
ing it the third miraculous manifestation they had 
received. This last one settled the question as to 



172 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

where they were to go. "And when he had seen 
the vision, straightway we sought to go forth into 
Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to 
preach the gospel unto them." (Verse 1.0.) This 
was in the days of miracles, and the Lord knew 
there were people in Macedonia ready to hear the 
gospel, and by these three miracles directed the 
apostle and his companions to go over there to 
preach. Thus the Spirit was working for the sal- 
vation of those people ; but it was working upon the 
preachers, to send them there to preach the gospel 
to them, instead of going to work secretly and ab- 
stractly upon their hearts to convert them. 

Now if it were God's order to send his Spirit 
upon people to convert them, it seems strange the 
Spirit did not go directly to the people to be con- 
verted, rather than across the sea for a preacher, 
thus requiring a sea voyage before anything could 
be done for the people. People that advocate this 
abstract spiritual influence in conversion surely for- 
get that the gospel is the power of God to the sal- 
vation of all who believe, who obey its require- 
ments, and that provision was made by the Son 
of God that the gospel should be preached in all 
the world and to every creature, promising: "He 
that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." But 
there is no promise of salvation upon any sort of 
secret or abstract operation of the Spirit upon the 
hearts of sinners. Neither is there anything said 
about such an operation in any case of conversion on 
record. 

These men understood, too, that they were called 
to go into Macedonia to preach the gospel to them. 
So they made the voyage across the sea, and landed 



Conversion of Lydia and Her Household. 173 

at Philippi, a city of the country where they were 
directed to go. "And on the sabbath day we went 
forth without the gate by a river side, where we 
supposed there was a place of prayer ; and we sat 
down, and spake unto the women that were come 
together. And a certain woman named Lydia, a 
seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, one that 
worshiped God, heard us : whose heart the Lord 
opened to give heed unto the things which were 
spoken by Paul." (Verses 13, 14.) We are not 
told in this what the apostle said ; we are only told 
that they spake to the women gathered there ; but 
as they understood that they were called there to 
preach the gospel to those people, they certainly 
did it. They would not go there and preach some- 
thing else, understanding at the same time that the 
Lord had called them there to preach the gospel. 
The result of the preaching also shows conclusively 
that they did preach the gospel. "And when she 
was baptized, and her household, she besought us, 
saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the 
Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And 
she constrained us." (Verse 15.) This is the 
amount of the information we have on this subject. 
By what is said we must determine what was 
preached, and what this woman and her household 
did. 

It is certainly plain enough, if we study it in the 
light of passages in which the subject of conversion 
is more fully presented. First, they were called 
there to preach the gospel. We know that Paul 
knew how to preach the gospel ; for he was called, 
qualified, and sent out to preach it, and had been 
preaching for years under the inspiration of the 



174 Gospel Lessons and Life History. . 

Holy Spirit. Paul himself tells us what the gospel 
facts are, which are the death, burial, and resurrec- 
tion of Christ. His great theme was to preach 
Christ, and him crucified. There can be no doubt 
that he fully preached these things at Philippi. 
The circumstances, including the three direct mira- 
cles that led him to that place, were such as to 
lead him to preach everything the gospel involves 
in the matter of conversion, and he was faith- 
ful in doing the work. So the preaching he did was 
all involved in the command to " preach the gospel." 

In the next place, what did Lydia do in accepting 
it? There are two words in the above statement 
that need to be studied with care. These are in the 
expression, " whose heart the Lord opened." The 
word " heart " must be studied in the light of the 
New Testament. That is our only guidance in 
these matters. We can learn the general meaning 
of the word " heart " by- the uses made of it. When v 
Jesus had said to the man sick of the palsy at Ca- 
pernaum, " Thy sins are forgiven thee," the scribes 
present said that he blasphemed ; but "Jesus know- 
ing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in 
your hearts?" (Matt. 9: 4.) This shows without 
any doubt that Jesus used the word " heart " in the 
sense of the mind, the faculty with which one rea- 
sons, to consider, to revolve anything in the mind, 
to reach conclusions. The heart, the mind, has 
many affections — as love, hatred, and such like ; but 
in this passage it means the mind, the thinking 
power of man. 

In connection with the parable of the sower, Je- 
sus quotes from Isaiah the following, and applies it 
to the unbelieving Jews of his day : " For this peo- 



Conversion of Lydia and Her Household. 175 

pie's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull 
of hearing, and their eyes they have closed ; lest 
haply they should perceive with their eyes, and 
hear with their ears, and understand with their 
heart, and should turn again, and I should heal 
them." (Matt. 13: 15.) These people had closed 
their eyes and ears against the truth; their hearts 
were corrupt ; and on this account they were not 
healed — not healed, saved, because they did not un- 
derstand with their ' heart, the mind ; for that is 
the faculty, the power in man to understand things. 

No one can be intelligently converted to any- 
thing without understanding it. In the matter of 
conversion people must understand, so as to make 
the right turn ; for conversion is turning from Satan 
to God, that they may serve God. They have to 
learn what this turning is, and how to make it, for 
they cannot be forgiven till they make this turn. 
So it is plain that the word " heart " here means the 
mind, the faculty that understands. Once more : 
" For the word of God is living, and active, and 
sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing 
even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints 
and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and 
intents of the heart." (Heb. 4: 12.) These pas- 
sages and many others of like import show clearly 
that the heart is the mind, that which exercises 
thought and forms intentions. 

Next, the word " opened " must be considered. 
This word, used in connection with the word 
" heart," means to teach, to enlighten, to impart in- 
struction or information. The Greek word " dia- 
noigo " is used eight times in the New Testament. 
It is used both literally and figuratively. Literally, 



176 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

to open the eyes, or doors ; figuratively, to open the 
heart, mind, by imparting light, instruction, which 
is plainly the meaning of it in the passage concern- 
ing Lydia's conversion, whose heart, mind, the Lord 
enlightened, instructed. 

In the next place, how did the Lord open, en- 
lighten, instruct, Lydia's heart? Did he do it by 
some secret, immediate, or direct power, without 
means, agencies, or instrumentalities? God has 
never worked that way in converting people. 
There is not one single case on record where any 
human being was converted that way. Direct mi- 
raculous power was exerted in connection with con- 
version in many cases in apostolic times ; but these 
miracles were wrought for other purposes, never to 
convert sinners. The gospel is the power of God 
to convert and save men, and he uses no other. 
In the days of miracles that sort of power was fre- 
quently used to get the gospel to people, so they 
could hear and obey it ; so it was in this case. The 
miracles were performed to get the gospel to Phi- 
lippi, where Lydia was ; but when Paul reached the 
place where she was, he did the preaching, and she 
heard and obeyed. Paul was the right man in the 
right place. He was called and made an apostle, 
was qualified by the Holy Spirit to do the very 
work that was done for Lydia. He was to open 
the eyes of people, to turn them from darkness to 
light, that they might turn from the power of Satan 
to God and be saved. This is just what was done 
for Lydia and her household. 

But how could he do such a work as this? In 
and of himself he could not ; but he was an agent 
of the Lord, sent out by him to do this work in 



Conversion of Lydia and' Her Household. 177 

his name, by his authority, and he sent him to this 
particular place for that very purpose. Hence, it 
was the Lord's work, done by the Holy Spirit 
through Paul as his agent. Can any one doubt the 
sufficiency and power of such agencies? As well 
doubt the power of God himself to save as to doubt 
the agencies he appointed for the accomplishment 
of these ends. If God cannot save people that way, 
then how can he save them? 

I know the gospel plan of salvation is discounted 
and made void in many ways by the doctrines and 
devices of men, since so many are ready to receive 
what men say, instead of receiving and doing what 
God says. This does not destroy the gospel, which 
is God's~power to save ; but such substitutes defraud 
men of the power of the gospel to save them. Men 
may get up all the inventions and devices they 
please, yet the gospel will still be the power of God 
to save all who obey it, and to condemn all who dis- 
obey it. Yes, there was power enough there to con- 
vert Lydia and her household when Paul went and 
preached the gospel to them. He promises that 
those who believe and obey the gospel shall be 
saved. Has any man the right to say such will- 
not be saved? Yet hundreds of men who claim to 
be ministers of Christ leave out conditions of salva- 
tion as specified by the Holy Spirit through the 
apostles, and thrust upon the people conditions un- 
known in New Testament times. Why not preach 
just what they find in the preaching of the apostles, 
and trust in the promises and power of God to save? 
There is power in God, Christ, and the gospel to 
save, but no power in man's opinions and inventions 
to save. Paul says : " Seeing that Jews ask for signs, 
12 



178 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

and Greeks seek after wisdom : but we preach Christ 
crucified, unto Jews a stumbling-block, and unto 
Gentiles foolishness; but unto them that are called, 
both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, 
and the wisdom of God." (1 Cor. 1 : 22-24.) Paul 
means by this passage that when the gospel was 
preached to the Jews, they rejected it, asking for 
signs; that the Greeks counted it but foolishness; 
but to those that were called and obeyed, Christ was 
the power and wisdom of God. "The power and 
wisdom of God to save a ruined world are concen- 
trated in the gospel ; and, besides, there is no power 
anywhere or in anything else beneath the sun to 
save souls. Surely it is something awful to reject 
the power and wisdom of God to save sinners, and 
introduce things of man's wisdom instead ! 

" Christ, and him crucified." What a gracious 
message ! The true love, wisdom, and power of 
God are in that message. The full and complete 
obedience of Christ unto death is in it. The blood 
of Christ is in it, the blood of the everlasting cove- 
nant. The power and wisdom of God are in every 
condition of salvation given by the Holy Spirit 
through the apostles. To reject any one of these 
conditions that are given in the gospel plan of sal- 
vation is to reject God, Christ, and the Spirit of 
God; it is to reject the power and wisdom of all 
heaven combined. Why will men thus trifle with 
divine power and wisdom so far as to lay them 
aside and present the doctrines of men — such as ab- 
stract spiritual influence, justification by faith only, 
that baptism is a nonessential, that the Lord's Sup- 
per every Lord's day is not essential to the Chris- 



Conversion of Lydia and Her Household. 179 

tian life, and such like — thus upsetting and chang- 
ing God's ways and substituting man's ways? 

Concerning these matters, Paul says, again : " But 
of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who was made unto 
us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sancti- 
fication, and redemption : that, according as it is 
written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." 
(Verses 30, 31.) Even in the days of the apostles 
men were discounting the wisdom and power of 
God as manifested in the gospel of Christ as inad- 
equate to save the soul, and rejecting them as weak, 
foolish, and insufficient and powerless to save ; and 
the apostles had to combat them as we also do now. 
They" also have furnished us with the very sort of 
arguments and information we need to-day against 
such things. It is still true that the things that 
God in his divine wisdom has chosen as the very 
things to save the world are the very things that are 
to-day counted foolishness by many. So that we are 
well fortified along these lines, if we will but avail 
ourselves of them. 

Now, with the testimony we have regarding the 
power, wisdom, and sufficiency in the gospel to 
save, we study Lydia again. She was abundantly 
blessed in having Paul there to preach the gospel 
to her in all its plainness, wisdom, and power, and 
to tell her precisely how she could be saved by it. 
We may readily know what Paul told her to do to 
be saved. We know what was preached to the 
three thousand on the day of Pentecost ; also that 
the same things preached there were to go to the 
ends of the earth, and to the end of the new and 
everlasting covenant. We know the gospel in its 
facts was preached there — Christ, and him cruci- 



180 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

fied, and raised again from the dead ; that on that 
day the people were required to believe, to repent, 
and to be baptized. The goodness of God as por- 
trayed in the gospel moved about three thousand 
of those people to obey that day. 

Paul, without any sort of doubt, preached all 
these things to Lydia. Did she do them all? She 
certainly did. We know she and her household 
were baptized, because the record tells us so. Was 
this all she did ? Certainly not ; for baptism alone 
will not put people into Christ, and, therefore, can- 
not save. So if that was all she did, she was not 
saved. But by the preaching of Paul her heart was 
so enlightened that she was moved to attend, " to 
give heed unto the things which were spoken by 
Paul." " The things." Paul told her more than 
one thing — baptism ; and as faith and repentance 
have to precede baptism, as shown on Pentecost, 
Paul preached these, and she had to do them to pre- 
pare her for baptism. An inspired man like Paul 
would not have gone there by specific direction of 
the Holy Spirit to preach the gospel to those peo- 
ple, and -then been so negligent as to leave out faith 
and repentance. Either one of these left out, and 
baptism could avail nothing. " He that disbelieveth 
shall be condemned." (Mark 16: 16.) " Except ye 
repent, ye shall all in like manner perish." (Luke 
13: 3, 5.) Paul, therefore, preached both these 
things, and Lydia obeyed them. So he preached 
all that sinners are required to do, and she gladly 
obeyed them, as she could not get to baptism with- 
out both faith and repentance, and could not reach 
salvation without doing all three of them. 

But are these things, when done, involved in the 



Conversion of Lydia and Her Household. 181 

wisdom and power of God to save? Who will say 
they are not? The gospel without these is power- 
less to save sinners. With these obeyed, all the 
power, wisdom, and authority of heaven are with 
them to save. These are God's appointments, and 
will prove effectual to all that obey them. It is 
very strange that any one should ever for a moment 
think of being saved on anything less than these, 
or should think of adding anything more than these. 

When God in his wisdom and goodness has ap- 
pointed these things, and has promised to save all 
that do them, why should man think to change 
them? "Because the foolishness of God is wiser 
than men ; and the weakness of God is stronger than 
men." (1 Cor. 1 : 25.) And, moreover, if we are 
saved at all, we must, of necessity, be saved by the 
Lord, for it is perfectly certain we cannot save our- 
selves. These things being true, and all know they 
are, why should any mortal of earth ever think of 
anything but to earnestly seek and accept the Lord's 
way? For, after all, it is the only way by which 
any one can be saved. If we do not accept the 
Lord's way, we shall be forever lost, and no one to 
blame but ourselves. 

When the Lord, thrpugh his prophet, told the 
Syrian leper what to do to be cured, to be cleansed, 
healed, entirely freed from that terrible disease, it 
was so different from what he expected and seemed 
so ridiculous to him that he was insulted and turned 
to go back; but, by the persuasion of his servants, 
he cooled down, took a more sensible view of the 
matter, and went and did precisely what the Lord 
said do, which was to go and dip himself seven 
times in the river Jordan. In doing this, he had 



i8"2 Gospel Lessons and Life History, 

to depend entirely upon the Lord for the healing. 
He had doubtless bathed often enough to know that 
neither the water nor the act of putting himself into 
it would heal leprosy. He was well satisfied that 
if he was cured by doing that, it would be the power 
of God that did the healing. So he worked up faith 
enough to take the required steps. He did it, and 
was thoroughly healed, and attributed the healing 
to God. So he went back to the prophet and said 
to him : " Behold now, I know that there is no God 
in all the earth, but in Israel." (2 Kings 5 : 15.) 
Naaman was so gratified over his healing that he 
begged the prophet to receive a present at his hand, 
which the prophet declined. 

There was not a doubt in Naaman's mind as to 
how the healing was done. God did it, and he real- 
ized it ; and whenever people do precisely what God 
says do, both in conversion and in living the Chris- 
tian life, and are saved in heaven, they will know 
that the saving power was in God, who devised the 
plan ; they will give all the glory to him, and will 
want to praise God and Christ for their salvation 
while the endless ages endure. Doing what God 
commands only prepares us, gives us a character 
fitted for God to save, and we can only consider 
ourselves as unprofitable servants, having only done 
that which was our duty to do. 



The Christian Life, 183 



CHAPTER XV. 



The Christian Life. 



Strictly speaking, the Christian life does not be- 
gin until one has become a Christian. Obedience 
to the gospel begins with faith, and then involves 
repentance and baptism before one can claim that 
he is in Christ; and 4 until in Christ, no one can 
claim remission of sins, because the Bible teaches 
us that it is in him, not out of him, that " we have 
our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins." (Col. 
1 : 14.) And a man can hardly claim that he is a 
Christian until he can scripturally claim remission 
of sins. No one is recognized as a new creature 
until in Christ. The word of God says : " Where- 
fore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature : 
the old things are passed away ; behold, they are 
become new." We could hardly say any one is a 
Christian until he has submitted to the above-named 
requirements, or claim he is in Christ — that his past 
sins are forgiven, that he is a new creature in a 
new relationship toward God, Christ, the church, 
the children of God. It is plain the children of Is- 
rael were not free from their old enemies till they 
had passed through the Red Sea, had been " bap- 
tized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea." So 
people now are not free from sin till baptized into 
Christ ; then they are ready to begin their journey 
in earnest toward the promised land. 



184 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

Hence, the gospel comes to us in two- grand les- 
sons — first, to teach us how to become Christians, 
and, secondly, how to live the Christian life. This 
is plainly indicated in the commission of Christ as 
recorded by Matthew. . Jesus said to the apostles : 
" Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the na- 
tions, baptizing them into the name of the Father 
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit : teaching them 
to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you." 
(Matt. 28: 19, 20.) First, they were to make disci- 
ples, Christians, out of the people, and then to teach 
the Christians how to live as Christians, as children 
of God. These two lessons 'differ in some impor- 
tant particulars. While »the principle of obedience 
to what God says in both cases is the same, the 
things to be done are in most respects very differ- 
ent; which, however, we will not point out here. 
" Teaching them [the Christians] to observe all 
things whatsoever I commanded you." As they 
brought people into the church, they were to teach 
them to go right on in the service of God. 

When, on the day of Pentecost, about three thou- 
sand became Christians, the very next verse says: 
"And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' 
teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread 
and the prayers." So the apostles began teaching 
the second lesson as soon as they embraced the first ; 
and the beauty in the case is, they went right on in 
the practice of it. They (the Christians) continued 
in the teaching of the apostles, who had but recently 
been baptized in the Holy Spirit, so that they were 
fully qualified to teach them just what the Lord 
intended should be taught. The Holy Spirit that 
had come so miraculously upon them was to bring 



The Christian Life. 185 

to their remembrance all the Savior had said to 
them, and was to guide them into all else they 
needed to teach. So we may be fully assured that 
what the apostles taught was the word of God in its 
purity, and we may fully rely upon it as such. 

They taught those disciples all they needed to 
know and do. They left nothing for them, nor for 
those in any after ages, to legislate upon to perfect 
the church; so that those who do such a thing lay 
violent and unlawful hands upon the word- of God. 
His word as he gave it is perfect ; but every man 
that makes any change upon it, adds anything to 
it or takes anything from it, makes it imperfect, 
and in so doing renders himself liable to the terri- 
ble judgment pronounced in the word of God 
against those that do such things. 

The church that Christ built has been so changed 
and mutilated by a very large part of the religious 
world that there is scarcely a resemblance left be- 
tween the original body of Christ, as established by 
the Holy Spirit, and modern churches of human 
wisdom. The first church, at Jerusalem, was 
started by divine wisdom, and was, therefore, 
started right, just as every congregation on earth 
from then till now and to the end of time should be 
started. Denominational churches have all been 
built by men — uninspired men, at that ; built by hu- 
man wisdom, not divine. For some time there was 
but one church on earth, the church of Christ and 
of God. Now there are churches many, and with 
many names, all differing both in names and prac- 
tice from the one church of the New Testament. 

There is not a denomination on earth that ac- 
cepts the church of the New Testament in name 



1 86 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

and in practice. The Spirit of God, through the 
apostles, built up the New Testament church ; but 
theologians have built up denominational churches, 
have framed their creeds, disciplines, articles of 
faith, manner of government, and such like. This 
accounts for the wonderful difference between them 
and the church which the Holy Spirit built up, and 
to which He gave its name, its manner of govern- 
ment and discipline. 

Those who belong to this church and are loyal 
to Christ are satisfied to be simply Christians ; to do 
and be just what the Holy Spirit teaches them to 
do and be ; to do all in the service of God as the 
Holy Spirit directs, and trust God for the blessings. 
They will always want to carry on both the work 
and worship of the church just as they read it from 
the New Testament. They never want to fail to 
follow the teaching of the apostles, either in the 
conversion of sinners or the edification of the 
church. If all professed Christians were willing to 
do this, there would be but one church on the earth 
to-day, for they would then take the New Testa- 
ment and go by it in the work and worship of the 
church. This is just what Jesus prayed for, and 
what all the loyal and faithful servants of God are 
working and praying for to-day. 

But in the passage last quoted (Acts 2: 42), the 
disciples at Jerusalem continued steadfastly in the 
teaching of the apostles ; and that means they stead- 
fastly observed, obeyed, the teaching of the Holy 
Spirit, for the apostles spoke as the Spirit gave them 
utterance. The first item of this teaching as men- 
tioned was " fellowship." This word has rather a 
broad sweep in its meaning. In its broad sense it 



The Christian Life. » 187 

means mutual participation — that they all took part 
in whatever the word may be applied to. If it be 
applied to love, either love to God or to brotherly 
love, it means they all partook alike, and were, 
therefore, in unity in the matter ; there was no di- 
vision among them. But it is pretty generally un- 
derstood that in this passage it means the contri- 
bution of their earthly means for the advancement 
of the cause of God on earth. If that is correct, it 
means they all bore a part in it. It is a fact that 
the word is a number of times used in that sense 
in the Scriptures. There were many special con- 
tributions made in the days of the apostles — some 
for the destitute and some for the apostles in their 
work, especially for Paul. Then, also, the regular 
contribution on the first day of the week. " Now 
concerning the collection for the saints, as I gave 
order to the churches of Galatia, so also do ye. 
Upon the first day of the week let each one of you 
lay by him in store, as he may prosper, that no col- 
lections be made when I come." (1 Cor. 16: 1, 2.) 
This collection for the saints was likely for the suf- 
fering saints at Jerusalem ; but it was to be made 
on the first day of the week. This indicates a reg- 
ular custom among the churches to contribute on 
the first day of the week, as it was required that 
all should meet on that day to worship. 

The disciples at Troas met thus. "And upon the 
first day of the week, when we were gathered to- 
gether to break bread, Paul discoursed with them, 
intending to depart on the morrow; and prolonged 
his speech until midnight." (Acts 20: 7.) This 
passage shows a regular custom of meeting on the 
first day of every week to break bread, since the 



1 88 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

inspired Paul met with them and recognized it as 
of divine appointment. He had tarried there sev- 
eral days, presumably to meet the brethren on the 
first day, knowing they would come together on 
that day to worship. 

In consideration of this regular appointment of 
the Lord for all his people to meet on the first day 
of the week, Paul gave these special instructions to 
the churches of Galatia and the church at Corinth 
to make their contributions on that day. The 
Greek of this passage justifies the idea of treasuring 
their contributions — that is, putting them into the 
treasury. Some contend that they were to save it 
up at home. This cannot be the meaning, since that 
would not % have accomplished what Paul wanted. 
He wanted the contributions of all the churches 
to which he had written to be put together, so 
they would not have to be gathered when he should 
call for it. If they all, individually, had laid up 
their contributions at home, then the very thing he 
wanted to avoid would have met him, and each indi- 
vidual would have had to be seen at home in order 
to get it; but if they put it in the treasury of each 
congregation, then the very thing Paul desired was 
accomplished. So, from the very beginning of the 
existence of the church, Christians were taught to 
contribute on the first day of the week; and the 
church at Jerusalem certainly did contribute liber- 
ally until they were scattered by persecution, and 
likely were broken up ; then the churches elsewhere 
began to help them. This matter of contribution 
was part of*the work of living the Christian life, 
and all Christians ought to carefully practice it. 



The Christian- Life. 189 

This was part of the apostles' teaching, and they 
taught as the Spirit gave them utterance. 

The next item in the service of the church at Jeru- 
salem is that they also continued " in the breaking of 
bread." This is a very important item in the service 
of the church. When the Savior instituted it, he 
said : " This do in remembrance of me." (Luke 22 : 
19.) This expression from Jesus is twice repeated 
by Paul. (1 Cor. 11: 24, 25.) The Lord's Supper 
is no mere matter of form. It is a memorial institu- 
tion, and a most impressive form of spiritual food 
upon which Christians are to feed on the first day 
of the week. 

The Lord's Supper was instituted under most sol- 
emn circumstances. It was the same night in 
which the Savior was betrayed, when he realized 
that he was at the very door of death — and a very 
terrible death, at that. He was nailed to the cross, 
and thus suffered the torture of a slow and horri- 
ble death— not on his own account, but to provide 
salvation for a wicked world. He knew that such 
a memorial was needful for his followers, and that 
all who love him would delight in having such a 
memorial. The death of Christ was the most im- 
portant event that ever occurred on this earth, and 
fraught with the greatest blessings to man. It was 
an event well calculated to fill the soul of every 
child of God with love and admiration for such a 
sacrifice, and to draw them closer to Him who has 
done so much for them, and to be a continued feast 
of soul to them. Not to take an interest in such an 
ordinance would indicate sordid indifference and 
ingratitude, both toward Him who so loved the 
world as to send his own beloved Son into it to 



1 90 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

die for sinners, and toward Him who thus suffered 
to redeem them from eternal woe. It should be at 
once the most soul-stirring and enjoyable feast to 
the children of God they ever attend on this earth. 
It should be a source of spiritual strength and com- 
fort to the people of God that will ever keep them 
full of interest in the cause of Him who has done 
so much for them. How any one can meet with 
saints the first day of every week, take the Lord's 
Supper, and remember the thrilling scenes of the 
cross, and not keep his love for God and for Christ 
continually growing and the inner man continually 
strengthening, is hard to conceive. 

On the other hand, how unaccountably strange 
that any one can attend this feast regularly, and at 
the same time so lose his interest in Christ and his 
service as to go back to the world again and give 
up the precious love of heaven ! In fact, those that 
turn back into the world never took much interest 
in the Son of God and his great sufferings for us, 
nor in the love of Him who devised it all. Surely 
those who turn back only attended as a mere form, 
and never drank in the spirit of it, and never took 
any interest in what Christ has done for them, nor 
in .the salvation of their own souls. 

How strange it is that so many religious people 
meet together the first day of every week and do 
not partake of the Lord's Supper at all — only pre- 
tend to partake of it twice or four times a year ! 
This custom is brought about by following men 
more than Christ. If these churches would follow 
the teaching of the apostles, as did the church at 
Jerusalem, there would be a wonderful revolution 
among them. There would then be perfect unity 



The Christian Life, 191 

among all that would do that. The beauty of it 
then would be that they would all be following the 
teaching of the Holy Spirit. This is the way it 
started in the first church established on earth, and 
all churches since are required to live the same way. 
This is the authority of God. Those who do other- 
wise, follow men. 

Most of the denominations, especially in the 
cities, meet together regularly on the first day of 
the week, but only take the Supper occasionally. 
Generally they meet to hear preaching; and when 
that is over, they disperse and go home. This order 
of things is not from God. We have in Paul the ex- 
ample of an inspired man preaching in connection 
with taking the Supper. But it is plainly stated 
that they came together to break bread, and the ' 
preaching was only an incident, as Paul chanced to 
be at Troas, and remained over Lord's day, and met 
and worshiped with them and preached to them. 
This incident shows that preaching is all right, pro- 
vided the Lord's Supper is not left off; but when 
preaching takes the place of the Supper, and it is 
set aside, God's authority is set aside and man's 
wisdom substituted. None can worship God in 
spirit and in truth on the first day of the week 
and set aside the Lord's Supper. To worship in 
spirit and in truth is to worship as the Spirit of 
God teaches in its word, which is truth. The 
Lord's Supper is required by the truth, and all who 
habitually and deliberately leave it out of the serv- 
ice reject the word of truth which demands it. 

Also, those Christians who do not meet to take 
the Lord's Supper, except when there is to be 
preaching, reject God and Christ and the Holy 



192 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

Spirit in this matter. Christians are to meet to- 
gether on that day and attend to this ordinance in 
order to worship as the Lord requires, and nothing 
else can take its place. Preaching cannot take its 
place. If we can have it in connection with the 
Supper, that is all right. It is both interesting and 
profitable to hear the word of the Lord on that day, 
or any other day; but we must not allow that or 
anything else to crowd out anything so sublimely 
important as this divinely appointed ordinance. 

Another item in the apostles' teaching, and in 
which the saints at Jerusalem continued, is prayer. 
This is something that Christians should never neg- 
lect. In the first place, it is an item that cannot be 
left off without disregarding the word of God. In 
the next place, the child of God so much needs the 
benefits and help of prayer that he cannot afford 
to deprive himself of this help. Even Jesus, the 
Son of God, prayed much and often ; sometimes con- 
tinued the livelong night in earnest, devotional 
prayer to his Father. If he so much needed to 
pray, surely the weak and blundering children of 
God, in their shortsighted and dependent condition, 
need it much more. He it was that gave the fol- 
lowing on it: "And he spake a parable unto them 
to the end that they ought always to pray, and not 
to faint." (Luke 18: 1.) Lie had been addressing 
his disciples all through the preceding chapter, and 
to them he said that they ought always to pray. 

But it was not for them alone that he said this. 
It was for us who live in the twentieth century as 
well. He put his followers under obligations when 
he says they ought to pray always, and not to faint. 
If we cease or fail to do what he says, we cease 



The Christian Life. 193 

to -follow him, and come dangerously near ceas- 
ing to be his disciples and forfeiting his promises. 
It is very dangerous for the children of God to neg- 
lect anything their Lord and Master says to them. 

The Revised Version is different from the Com- 
mon Version as to the class of persons put under 
obligations to pray. The Common Version has it 
" that men ought always to pray, and not to faint." 
This puts it in a broad, indefinite sort of way that 
makes it easy to pervert. But the revised Greek 
text puts in the pronoun " they," which shows he 
was simply telling his disciples that they ought al- 
ways to pray. So the late revisers had authority 
for putting " they ; " while those who translated 
the Authorized Version failed to indicate the real 
meaning, even by the context. The connection 
fully shows he was talking to his disciples when 
he gave the parable. The revised version of this 
passage is certainly right. If any, therefore, want 
to put men of the world that have never obeyed 
the gospel under obligations to always pray, they 
will have to find some other passage to express it, 
for this does not. This puts the obligation upon 
his servants, the disciples. The servants of God 
have been the praying ones in all the dispensations, 
and they are yet. 

There is no one kind of obligation more solemnly 
impressed in the New Testament than prayer. Je- 
sus gave the example, and also enjoined it upon his 
disciples, and gave them a form of prayer. The 
apostles often emphasize it. Paul put it in close 
connection with the Christian armor. "And take 
the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, 
which is the word of God : with all prayer and sup- 
13 



194 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

plication praying at all seasons in the Spirit, and 
watching thereunto in all perseverance and suppli- 
cation for all the saints, and on my behalf, that 
utterance may be given unto me in opening my 
mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery 
of the gospel." (Eph. 6: 17-19.) This is in per- 
fect harmony with what the Lord himself said about 
prayer. This letter was written to Christians, and 
teaches them to pray always ; and to pray, make 
supplication for all saints, and to pray f6r him, that 
he might have full boldness in preaching the gospel. 

This is a beautiful, strong, and impressive pas- 
sage on the subject of prayer. Paul, like Christ, 
prayed much. He told many congregations how 
earnestly he prayed for them. He was truly a man 
of prayer. While all these things were written 
nearly two thousand years ago, the teaching is as 
much for Christians now as it was for those to 
whom they were spoken and written then. It is 
vain, therefore, for any child of God to think he can 
be a faithful Christian and not pray regularly. 
Prayer is so intimately connected with the Christian 
life that no one can fill the requirements of the New 
Testament without it. 

In the first place, it is a Christian duty, being so 
often required. In the next place, it is a wonderful 
privilege that children of God, though weak and 
imperfect, should be permitted to make so near an 
approach unto God as to call him " Our Father," 
and commune with him, thank and praise him for 
his great mercy to us, and pray to him daily for the 
things we so much need ; and, besides, it helps us 
and strengthens us in the discharge of our duties, 
and makes us better in heart and life by this sort of 






The Christian Life. 195 

daily communion with our Heavenly Father, and 
helps us to live closer to him. It also greatly en- 
courages and helps the Christian that God has 
promised to hear and answer the prayers of his 
faithful children. No one can fully estimate the 
comfort, consolation, and encouragement a faithful 
child of God derives through prayer. 

An earnest, faithful child of God does not need 
telling to induce him to pray. He wants to pray, 
and could not be kept from it. He wants to pray, 
in the first place, because God wants him to. It 
is always a great pleasure to such to do just what 
the Lord requires. In the next place, he loves to 
pray because he derives so much comfort and bless- 
ing from it. But if there is nothing in it for this 
life, only that God wants us to pray, that is enough 
to move every heart that loves God to pray to him. 
But the Bible is full of examples, promises, and as- 
surances that untold blessings have come, and will 
still come, to the righteous when they pray in this 
life. Here on earth, in the midst of all its trials and 
temptations, is where we especially need the bene- 
fits of prayer. 

Christ and the apostles have taught it abundantly 
throughout the New Testament. Christ said to his 
disciples : " Watch and pray, that ye enter not into 
temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh' 
is weak." (Matt. 26: 41.) Jesus himself went out 
three times alone and prayed most earnestly and 
touchingly to his Father just before his betrayal 
and arrest. All through his ministry he prayed 
abundantly, all of which was a grand example for 
us, and we are told we should follow his steps. 
Paul and Silas prayed in the prison at Philippi at 



196 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

the hour of midnight. An earthquake occurred 
that opened the prison doors, which afforded an op- 
portunity for Paul to preach the gospel to the jailer 
and his house, which resulted in their conversion 
" the same hour of the night." 

Prayer has in all the ages been an important fac- 
tor in the lives of the children of God, especially 
through the Jewish and Christian ages. There is, 
in fact, an enormous amount of testimony, both by 
precept and by example, in the Bible on the subject 
of prayer, and many wonderful things accomplished 
through prayer. livery earnest Christian, posted in 
the word of God on the subject, and with strong 
faith in the word of God, will be a man of prayer, 
and all the world cannot keep him from 'it, unless 
they take his life away. 

A strong and faithful Christian that does not pray 
would be an anomaly, a freak. In reality, there are 
none such. A faithful Christian loves Jesus, and he 
says: "If a man love me, he will keep my word." 
Jesus told us to pray; he said it again and again, 
and gave the example in his own life. Paul says : " I 
desire therefore that the men pray in every place, 
lifting up holy hands, without wrath and disputing." 
(1 Tim. 2: 8.) This will take in public prayers and 
private prayers — prayers everywhere. He uses 
the word " men " in contrast with the women of 
the church — not men of the world, but Christians — 
for men of the world cannot lift up holy hands ; 
only Christians can do that. Hence, it is the chil- 
dren of God that are spoken of here. 

But we need not multiply passages along this line 
in this chapter. These are enough. Shall we, then, 
do as God our Father, our Lord and Savior Jesus 



The Christian Life. 197 

Christ, and the Holy Spirit all demand of us ? Will 
we not pray without ceasing? It is true, also, that, 
to be benefited by prayer, we must live in harmony 
with God's will. It is not the mere fact of praying 
that brings the blessings of God to us ; we must 
be faithful in all of his will. He promises no bless- 
ing to those in rebellion against him. 

What a grand thing it is to be in harmony with 
God's will! Think of Elijah, of his faithful life, 
his earnest prayers, the three and a half years of 
famine, the abundant rain, all in answer to his 
prayers ; and, finally, how he was carried to heaven 
by a whirlwind, in a chariot of fire ! How glorious 
the ending of such a life ! Think of the beautiful 
life of Jesus, his earnest prayers, the crown of 
thorns, the cross, the grave, the triumphant resur- 
rection, his ascension, the eternal crown of glory! 
Then think how he has promised to come again to 
take his faithful ones home to live in the place pre- 
pared for all the righteous forever and ever. All 
these blessings are within our reach, if we will but 
love and serve him here. The Lord bless and help 
us all so to do. 



198 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



Other Items in the Christian Life. 



In the Greek Testament the word for " Christ " is 
" Christos." The word for " Christian " is " Chris- 
tianos," and means, literally, " a follower of Christ." 
In the New Testament it is not applied to any ex- 
cept those that had obeyed the first principles of the 
gospel, had entered into the church of Christ, and 
were recognized as having their past sins forgiven. 
The word is applied directly to these in but two 
places in the New Testament, in the first of which 
it is said : " The disciples were called Christians first 
in Antioch." (Acts 11 : 26.) Also: " But if a man 
suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but 
let him glorify God in this name." (1 Pet. 4: 16.) 
In another place : "And Agrippa said unto Paul, 
With but little persuasion thou wouldest fain make 
me a Christian." (Acts 26: 28.) But Agrippa 
never became a Christian, so far as we know. 

In the first occurrence of this word, on which oc- 
casion the disciples were " called Christians first 
in Antioch," it is pretty generally understood that 
the name " Christian " was given by Paul and Bar- 
nabas, who had been with that church for a year, 
and the Greek of the passage bears out that idea ; 
and, besides, the word rendered " were called " it- 
self often indicates that the thing the word ex- 
presses was done by divine authority. The word is 



Other Items in the Christian Life, 199 

" chreematidzo," and is found ten times in the Greek 
Testament. In nearly every case it refers to some 
message given by the Lord ; and, besides, the name 
" Christian/' as given to the disciples, expresses 
just what the servants of the Lord are required to 
do — that is, to follow Christ. The enemies of 
Christ never give names that express just what his 
people are required to do and to be. So we think 
the claim that the enemies of Christ gave the name 
" Christian " to his disciples is a mistake. 

To be a follower of Christ is to do his will, to ob- 
serve the teaching given by his apostles. No one 
can scripturally claim to be a follower of Christ un- 
less he is striving all the time to observe the prac- 
tical teachings and requirements of the New Testa- 
ment. To be moral in a general way, and even to 
be charitable, does not prove that such a one is a 
Christian. Paul said, though he gave all his goods 
to feed the poor, and though he gave his body to be 
burned, if he did not possess love, he was nothing ; 
and he meant the kind of love for Christ that would 
lead him to do what the word of Christ requires. 
One or two good things are not enough to prove 
any one a Christian. It takes an earnest, honest 
effort to do all that he bids us do. That is just what 
the word, the name " Christian/' signifies. Though 
one obeys the gospel so far as to obtain remission 
of past sins, and does not continue to follow Christ, 
he ceases to be a Christian, ceases to be a follower 
of Christ. It should be a matter of serious consid- 
eration to every one claiming to be a Christian as 
to whether he is really following him in his divine 
appointments. 

There are many that have never obeyed Christ in 



200 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

baptism — that is, have not been immersed, buried 
with Christ in baptism, and who do not observe the 
Lord's Supper as Christ requires, do not wear the 
name of Christ, and are governed as churches by 
creeds and confessions of faith, rather than by the 
word of the Lord. Many of these may be moral 
and charitable, but are not followers of Christ, and 
have not a scriptural right to the name " Christian." 
We must take the word of God and of Christ, learn 
what it requires at our hands, and must be doers of 
the word, and not hearers only, to be entitled to 
wear the name " Christian." 

We showed in Chapter XV. how the disciples 
were started to attend to the public services of the 
church, and desire in this to look after matters of 
everyday life, at home, among our neighbors, and 
wherever our lots may be cast. 

Peter said to those who had but recently become 
Christians : " Putting away therefore all wickedness, 
and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all 
evil speakings, as newborn babes, long for the spir- 
itual milk which is without guile, that ye may grow 
thereby unto salvation." (1 Pet. 2: 1, 2.) In 
Christianity, as well as in the flesh, there is child- 
hood and growth. The fleshly growth is a good 
illustration of the spiritual. Spiritual food is as es- 
sential to growth in spiritual life as natural food 
is to produce fleshly growth. Everybody- under- 
stands that a child will not, and cannot, grow with- 
out food. It must not only have food, but the food 
must be suited to the fleshly nature and growth of 
the one whose growth is desired. The best, the 
most nourishing food for a newborn babe is its 
mother's milk. This is a divine provision of nature 



Other Items in the Christian Life. 201 

for physical growth and development, and is pre- 
cisely adapted to that end. As the child grows 
stronger, it can take stronger food. Strong meat 
can be taken and digested when manhood has been 
attained. So the babe in Christ needs the simple, 
plain teaching of the word of God, such as it can 
understand and appropriate to its growth and ad- 
vancement. In the Common Version this is called 
" the sincere milk of the word." Without this kind 
of food, and it digested, there can be no spiritual 
growth. 

Peter says, as it stands in the old version, " de- 
sire " this food ; in the new, " long for " it. The 
word " long " is a very strong term. The little 
child longs for the food provided for it, and the 
Christian must long for the food the Lord has pro- 
vided for his growth. Nothing but the word of the 
Lord can produce a growth unto salvation. A 
fleshly desire — such as the " lust of the flesh, the 
lust of the eyes, and the pride of life " — will quickly 
bring spiritual death, but not life. Religious errors, 
the doctrines and commandments of men, cannot 
produce spiritual growth. As well feed the babe 
on calomel to produce growth in the flesh as to 
feed a young Christian on the doctrines and opin- 
ions of men in order to produce spiritual growth. 
As surely as that things poisonous to the flesh will 
produce physical death, so surely will the doctrines 
and opinions of men, taken and appropriated by 
Christians, produce spiritual death. This matter of 
longing for the word of God is very much like the 
language of Jesus when he said : " Blessed are they 
that hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they 
shall be filled." (Matt. 5: 6.) When people are 



202 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

hungering for literal food, they hunt for it, and 
never rest contented till they find it and their hun- 
ger is satisfied. So when Christians long for the 
word of God, they never stop seeking till they find 
it. It takes the light of truth to satisfy the long- 
ing, hungry soul. That is what he wants, what he 
needs. He does not hunger after human opinions, 
does not want them ; for they cannot satisfy, can- 
not lead to salvation. The Christian wants salva- 
tion, eternal life, and wants the light that will lead 
him ' there ; and nothing but the word of God, the 
word of life, can lead to it. 

Unfortunately, only a few Christians are longing, 
hungering and thirsting after righteousness, or 
they would be more anxious for a knowledge of the 
word of God, which is the only thing that can lead 
to it. To be a Christian and live the life required 
is the grandest thing any man ever did do. It is, 
indeed, the only thing in the reach of man that will 
make him pure and holy and good in the sight of 
the Lord. Above all things, then, let the Christian 
study the word of God, that he may know what the 
Lord would have him do, and then do it with his 
might. 

There are also many things the Christian has to 
lay aside in order to love and long for the word 
of God. Hence, Peter, in the passage quoted, says 
to put away wickedness, guile, hypocrisy. In 
a word, lay aside, put down, and keep down every 
desire, every habit and wish, no matter how dear 
to the flesh, that will be in the way of the pure life 
that Jesus requires us to live. Paul also says : " Put 
to death therefore your members which are upon the 
earth ; fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, 



Other Items in the Christian Life. 203 

and covetousness, which is idolatry." (Col. 3: 5.) 
The only way to successfully put these fleshly pas- 
sions and propensities to death and keep them 
down is to so long for the word of God as to study 
it and treasure it in our hearts, and thus crowd out 
these fleshly inclinations, and so fill our souls with 
the good things we are required to do that we will 
not want to do evil things. No man can cultivate 
the pure love of God in his heart, and at the same 
time cultivate a love and desire for the evil things 
the word of the Lord requires us to put to death. 
The very next verse shows the utter ruin that the 
practice of the things we are commanded to put 
down will bring : " For which things' sake cometh 
the wrath of God upon the sons of disobedience." 
Just to the extent, therefore, that we value the sal- 
vation of our souls, must we heed and practice the 
word of God regarding these things. We must love 
God and his truth more than we love the indulgence 
of these evil tendencies, or we may give up all idea 
of eternal life. 

It is only longing for and practicing what the 
word of God requires that will enable us to grow 
unto eternal life. It is just as certain that those 
who indulge the flesh with its affections and lusts 
through this life will be lost as that the faithful 
servants of God will be eternally saved ; but those 
who fill up their hearts and affections with the love 
of God and the practice of his truth can easily 
enough hold the flesh in check. Paul, in the same 
chapter, further says to put away, put down, " anger, 
wrath, malice, railing, shameful speaking out of 
your mouth." So there are very many things that 
we have to overcome, crucify, and keep down. For 



204 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

the heart, the inner man, to do all these things, to 
keep all these fleshly propensities under, much spir- 
itual food is needed in order to accomplish an end 
so difficult, and yet so grand and important. 

Hence, the Lord, in his goodness and mercy, has 
prepared and plainly revealed to us in his word ev- 
erything that we need in this great conflict. He pro- 
vided the help for us that will furnish us with all 
the strength we need, if we will utilize what has- 
been provided*. So in the same c hapter Paul says, 
again : " Put on therefore, as God's elect, holy and 
beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, 
meekness, long-suffering ; forbearing one another, 
and forgiving each other, if any man have a com- 
plaint against any ; even as the Lord forgave you, 
so also do ye : and above all these things put on love, 
which is the bond of perfectness." (Verses 12-14.) 
This is a wonderful catalogue of good things the 
Christian must put on if he would win in the great 
conflict with " the world, the flesh, and the devil." 
The fight is on, and no truce can be made without 
loss to the child of God and heir of glory. Just 
think of it ! A heart of compassion, kindness, and 
all these heavenly traits of character, capped off 
with love, the great power that has been moving 
millions into the service of God for nearly two thou- 
sand years, and holding them in that service till 
death should come and take them to a better and 
happier home. 

Jesus came into the world clothed in human flesh, 
with its weaknesses and impulses, and conquered, 
overcame them, and kept them under, and lived a 
pure and beautiful life as an example for us, and 
we are told to follow his steps ; and if we put on, 



Oilier Items in the Christian Life. 205 

cultivate in our hearts, the above loving principles, 
we can so far follow his steps as to reach the goal. 
This is the way, and the only way, to grow into 
salvation, eternal life. Living upon these principles 
will prepare us for eternal life, and the Lord -will 
be certain to give it to all that get ready to enjoy it. 
What a wonderful amount of forbearance and long- 
suffering the Savior manifested toward the cruel 
people that treated him so wickedly when he was 
making ready to bestow such untold blessings upon 
the human race ! Shall we look at all this and not 
learn to imitate him in these lovely traits of char- 
acter? "Must Jesus bear the cross alone, and all 
the world go free ? " No, indeed ! There is a cross 
for every one, and we must all bear the cross if we 
would wear the crown. Jesus has been wearing 
a crown of glory ever since he finished bearing the 
cross and completed the work he came to do, and 
went back to the Father's home. Let us ever culti- 
vate that love for God, for Christ, and for the truth, 
that will keep us close to the Lord, and make our- 
selves constantly worthy of all the promises God 
has made to the faithful. 

The apostle also gives a further lesson in this 
same grand chapter, following the last passage we 
quoted : "And let the peace of Christ rule in your 
hearts, to the which also ye were called in one body ; 
and be ye thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell 
in you richly ; in all wisdom teaching and admonish- 
ing one another with psalms and hymns and spir- 
itual songs, singing with grace in your hearts unto 
God. And whatsoever ye do, in word or in deed, do 
all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks 
to God the Father through him." (Verses 15-17.) 



206 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

In this passage are given vital principles of the 
Christian life. " Let the peace of Christ rule in your 
hearts." Peace is one of the ruling principles of 
Christianity, and must be a ruling principle in the 
heart of every child of God on earth. The religion 
of Christ is addressed to the heart, and is intended 
to fill and control the heart, and, through the heart, 
to control the life, and bring the whole man under 
the control of Christ, who is the great Head of the 
church. This is the sanctification that is taught in 
the New Testament. All are sanctified that so fill 
their hearts with the teaching of the Holy Spirit 
in the New Testament that they practice this teach- 
ing in their daily lives. " Follow after peace with 
all men, and the sanctification without which no 
man shall see the Lord." (Heb. 12: 14.) To fol- 
low peace is to practice, to live out, the principles 
of peace that are taught in the word of God. To 
follow sanctification is to learn and practice the 
principles of holiness, of sanctification, taught us in, 
the words of the Holy Spirit. 

It is not a mystical power worked in the heart 
by a secret, mystical operation of the Spirit, as some 
claim ; but, on the other hand, we are positively 
commanded to follow it, learn and practice it, just 
precisely as we are to learn and practice peace by 
living the principles taught us ; and if we do not 
earnestly and faithfully follow peace and sanctifi- 
cation, we are plainly told we shall not see God. 

Again, Paul says : " So then let us follow after 
things which make for peace, and things whereby 
we may edify one another." (Rom. 14: 19.) Again, 
Paul puts down peace as one of the fruits of the 
Spirit, which fruit is borne by learning and prac- 



Other Items in the Christian Life. 207 

tiring the things the Holy Spirit teaches. Sancti- 
fication is attained precisely the same way. Again : 
" Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly." This 
is an exceedingly important matter. Our only 
spiritual light is what we get through the word of 
the Lord ; and our only way to get that is to read 
it or hear it read, study it, treasure it in the heart, 
walk in it, practice its teaching in our lives. The 
word of Christ dwells in us to no effect unless we 
live by day and by night as it directs. All that 
do this are continually exerting an influence for 
good and helping to bring others into the fold of 
Christ. There is but one way to secure the prom- 
ise of eternal life, and that is by doing God's will ; 
and there is but one chance of doing that will, and 
that is that we learn it and understand it. Hence 
the propriety and importance of the command to let 
the word of Christ dwell in us richly. There is 
no excuse in this Bible land to be ignorant of the 
will of God. If any cannot read themselves, they 
can get others to read for them, and hear the word 
preached, and thus secure a knowledge of what 
the Lord would have them do. If any are igno- 
rant of their duty, it is their own fault, because they 
do not try to learn it. 

The same passage also requires that everything 
we say and everything we do in the service of God 
shall be said and done in the name of Christ, which 
means by his authority. To do and say things by 
the authority of Christ is to do and say what we 
find on record in the word which he has furnished 
us. Any man, therefore, that teaches people to do 
as service to God anything not found in his word 
is guilty of adding to, changing, or taking from the 



208 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

word of God, and will be held responsible for it in 
the day of judgment. Yet hundreds of religious 
teachers are doing that very thing all over this Bible 
land to-day. There certainly will be some fearful 
accounts to be rendered when the roll is called in 
that great day. 

There is abundant warning given to the churches 
against such teachers, and they are well armed 
against such, if they would only avail themselves of 
it. Here is a sample of it : " Take heed lest there shall 
be any one that maketh spoil of you through his 
philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of 
men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after 
Christ : for in him dwelleth all the fullness of the 
Godhead bodily, and in him ye are made full, who 
is the head of all principality and power." (Col. 2: 
8-10.) This warning ought to be heeded by every 
church and by every Christian wherever their lots 
may be cast. In these days of so many errors and 
so many winds of doctrine, and so many innova- 
tions and fads, people cannot watch too closely 
against such things. These men, like the ancient 
Pharisees, compass sea and land to make disciples 
to their innovations. Some of them go only among 
churches that others have built up, and are doing 
everything in their power to sidetrack and capture 
these churches as their own ; then they reorganize 
them and claim they have established another 
church, and hold the house. Watch, and avoid all 
such men. It is our Christian duty to guard against 
them. They are spiritual frauds, and will cap- 
size every church they can possibly get hold of. 
Watch, therefore, and prevent their headway. The 
church must be kept true and loyal to Christ, or it 



Other Items in the Christian Life. 209 

will be carried so far from him he will cease to 
own it, and alj will be lost in apostasy. Christians, 
therefore, should watch, and hold firmly to the word 
of God as their only ark of safety. 

Peter is very explicit on the things that will keep 
churches and all Christians free from such dangers : 
' Yea, and for this very cause adding on your part 
all diligence, in your faith supply virtue ; and in 
your virtue knowledge ; and in your knowledge self- 
control ; and in your self-control patience ; and in 
your patience godliness; and in your godliness 
brotherly kindness ; and in your brotherly kindness 
love." (2 Pet. 1 : 5-7.) These three verses are ex- 
ceedingly full of divine instruction, and, if followed, 
will make people just what the Lord wants and re- 
quires them to be in this life. He was writing to 
Christians, to those who had already come into the 
church, had already started in the narrow way that 
leads to endless joy. Hence, they had faith already 
in God and Christ, and in the word of God, the 
words of the Holy Spirit. But there was need that 
this faith should become more active, and develop 
these other traits of character so important and es- 
sential to the Christian's hereafter. 

The rendering of this passage in the new version 
is in some respects more expressive than the old. 
In the first place, they were to use diligence in do- 
ing the things required. They had already escaped,' 
had come out of, the corruptions of the world and 
sin by becoming Christians, and for that very rea- 
son he urges diligence in doing the things com- 
manded in these verses. " In your faith supply 
virtue." This is a rather peculiar, but wonderfully 
expressive, clause. Faith lies at the foundation of 
14 



210 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

Christian character, and must really produce all the 
characteristics mentioned in these verses. " For 
whatsoever is not of faith is sin." Hence, every 
step, every item of the Christian life, must be based 
■on faith, must arise from an earnest faith in the 
word of God. Faith must go with the child of God 
through life, and must be the foundation of all he 
does in the service of God in perfecting the Chris- 
tian character. We must walk by faith in every- 
thing we do in that service. 

Every child of God needs virtue in his character. 
The word " virtue " means that one is clean, pure, 
chaste, upright in everything he does in his whole 
course of life. It also includes courage, and it is 
generally understood that courage is a large part of 
its meaning in this passage. Every member of 
the church needs courage to carry out at all times 
his convictions of truth and duty as learned from 
the word of God. Many break down in some of the 
most important matters of the Christian life from 
lack of courage. They lack it mainly because they 
do not cultivate it ; do not study, strive, and pray 
that they may have the courage to always stand by 
the truth and be faithful in the discharge of every 
duty. 

Courage has been necessary in all the ages to 
make a reliable and faithful servant of God. Joshua 
was commanded more than once to be of good cour- 
age, when he became the successor of Moses and 
was to lead the children of Israel into the promised 
land. He needed courage, for the difficulties were 
great. Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, broke down 
again and again for lack of courage. He was, in 
the main, a good sort of man, but he did not have 



Other Items in the Christian Life. 211 

the courage to withstand the wily Ahab. All Chris- 
tians have a formidable enemy to encounter in their 
own fleshly propensities, and the many temptations 
thrown in their pathway by Satan and by a wicked 
world ; and if they do not have a good degree of 
courage, they will fall by the way under some of 
these trials. 

Then with equal emphasis we are commanded to 
supply knowledge. That means to learn well the 
word of God, that we may always know what is 
our duty under any emergency that may arise. 
The highest wisdom we can possibly attain to is 
a knowledge of things divine and of the duties 
that the Lord wants us to do in this life. To ob- 
tain this knowledge, we must study the New Tes- 
tament, and must study it prayerfully and be de- 
voutly in earnest. Who would not delight to study 
that book, its themes are so sublime and its char- 
acters so grand? The holy and beautiful life of the 
Son of God transcends any life ever read of, or con- 
templated. The great beauty of it to us is that a 
study of his life shows us plainly how to overcome 
Satan and all his combined hosts. Then the trag- 
edy of the cross, in which Jesus died that we might 
live, is the most important one that has occurred 
since time began. The teaching also of the Holy 
Spirit sheds a beautiful light on the pathway of 
obedience into the church on earth, and, through the 
church, into the home of the soul. It teaches how 
to imitate that lovely and lovable life that eclipses 
all others— r the life of Jesus. It will lead us along 
the path of duty, purity, holiness, usefulness, and 
happiness on earth, and prepare us for admission 
through the gates into the eternal city. 



212 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

Is not this enough to stimulate the children of 
God to read this sacred volume, that they may sup- 
ply knowledge in their faith? Better be ignorant 
of everything else on earth than to be ignorant of 
the narrow way that leads to the eternal paradise, 
the home of the blessed. 

Then we are commanded to supply self-control, 
to be temperate in all things ; to deny anything 
and everything that would lead us from the nar- 
row way, or in any way hinder progress in the life 
divine. This is an exceedingly" important means in 
the Lord's divine economy to help the poor, strug- 
gling child of God to gain a heavenly crown. 

Patience next demands attention in the compre- 
hensive catalogue of Christian graces. There is 
something lovely and beautiful in patience ; it im- 
parts sunshine, pleasure, and happiness to all around 
its possessor. But impatience, peevishness, and fret- 
fulness casts the shadows of unpleasantness upon all 
that come in the reach of those who cultivate it. 
No one has the right to be forever raising clouds 
of darkness on the pathway of those around, and 
especially those of his own home and family. 
Many a home is forever under the shadows on ac- 
count of the habitual impatience and fretfulness of 
some one who is under obligations high as heaven 
to brighten that home and make its inmates happy. 

The nominal Christian that ignores this command 
'to supply patience in faith commits a double offense. 
On the one hand, he disobeys a positive command 
of God, and becomes a rebel in God's government. 
In the next place, he sins against his own soul and 
everybody about him by continuing to practice a 
ruinous and exceedingly disagreeable course of life. 



Other Items in the Christian Life. 213 

Let all, therefore, cultivate patience, who desire after 
a while to walk the golden streets. 

Then follow godliness, brotherly kindness, and 
love. These are all essential to strengthen and 
help Christians, and are beautiful characteristics 
that greatly adorn the Christian life. These princi- 
ples must be carefully considered by all that would 
reach the eternal home. There is nothing but 
Christianity, and it faithfully lived, that can exalt, 
purify, and civilize man, and prepare him for the as- 
sociations of the pure and holy of earth and of the 
blood-washed throng of the finally saved in heaven. 
Who would not strive and sacrifice to reach that 
blessed abode? All that will intrust the direction 
of their whole lives to the word of God are as sure 
of heaven as that the Bible is true. 



214 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



The Christian Life a Race. 



" Therefore let us also, seeing we are compassed 
about with so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside 
every weight, and the sin which doth so easily be- 
set us, and let us run with patience the race that 
is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and 
perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set 
before him endured the cross, despising shame, and 
hath sat down at the right hand of the throne of 
God." (Heb. 12 : 1, 2.) This is an exceedingly 
practical passage. The chapter is full of examples, 
referring us to the characters of the many godly peo- 
ple mentioned in the preceding chapter, also repre- 
senting the Christian life as a race, and referring 
to the grand example of the Son of God. All these 
are well worth our study and" meditation. The an- 
cient worthies to whom the apostle refers are rep- 
resented as a great " cloud of witnesses." The 
word " witnesses " is not used in the sense of spec- 
tators looking on to see what we do ; they are wit- 
nesses in the sense of testimony, testifying what 
earnest faith and devotion to the will of God can 
accomplish in this life. 

Abraham was but a common sort of a man, liv- 
ing among idolaters, till God called him and told 
him to go out from among them,- from his kindred, 
even his father's house. Abraham started ; he had 



The Christian' Life a Race. 215 

faith enough from the beginning to start. He made 
some mistakes and blunders at first, but kept on 
till he was separated from all his kindred and coun- 
trymen, as- God had said. Thus his faith grew, obe- 
dience increased, until nothing was too great for 
him to undertake when God commanded, even to 
the offering of his own son upon the altar as a 
burnt offering. Thus by believing and obeying 
God he became one of the purest, best, and most 
obedient men that ever lived on this earth. His 
testimony, therefore, is exceedingly strong as an 
illustration of faith and obedience. In fact, he was 
a model of submission to the will of God in all that 
was required of him. 

That chapter, indeed, is full of similar examples 
which make up this cloud of witnesses by which 
we are encompassed. These should forcibly stimu- 
late us to faithfully do the will of God in all things. 
The apostle puts these examples down as a stim- 
ulating power upon us to " run with patience the 
race that is set before us." This race refers to the 
Christian life, the life of holiness which all of God's 
children are required to live. All who become 
Christians enter upon this race, and thus publicly 
pledge themselves before heaven and earth to strive 
to run it with - patience. Hence, this language is ad- 
dressed to Christians, and must be applied to them 
now. When sinners are addressed, the first prin- 
ciples of the oracles of God must be presented to 
them, so they may enter upon this race ; but to those 
who have entered, the things which belong to the 
Christian life must be addressed. 

The figure of a race is very expressive. People 
of ancient times made much ado over foot races. 



216 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

They had regular times and places appointed for 
them, and rules and .fixed regulations for entering 
them, and also fixed rules for running the races. 
Those who violated the rules for entering were de- 
barred from the race ; those who violated the rules 
for running were debarred from the prize. The 
same principle is invariably true, both in entering 
and in running the Christian race. None can enter 
upon that race but by a humble obedience to the 
gospel of Christ. Those who do not obey the law 
of entrance are not in the race at all, and will not 
receive the prize. In those races the men them- 
selves ran on foot. Hence the appropriateness of 
the figure. Men run horses in races now. Then 
the men ran ; and if they did not run lawfully, they 
were not crowned as victors and got no prizes. So 
in the Christian race the prize is offered only to 
those who run the race as the great Head of the 
church requires, and continue to run it to the end 
of life. There is a difference in one respect, and 
that is as to the number that may receive the prize. 
All may receive the prize at the end of the Chris- 
tian race that will enter and run lawfully, whereas 
in the foot races not more than one was likely to 
be crowned as victor. The likeness is in the mat- 
ter of entering and running according to law, and 
in the fact that we must enter and must run, or no 
prize can be gained. 

It is also true that all useless weights or hin- 
drances were to be laid aside when the contest- 
ants ran, in order to have any assurance of getting 
the prize. In practicing for those foot races, they 
frequently carried extra weights and encumbrances 
upon their muscles to make them strong and active, 



The Christian Life a Race. 217 

so as to enable them to run with greater speed in 
the race. Had they undertaken to run the race 
with these extra weights or encumbrances upon 
them, they would have made a failure. So Chris- 
tians frequently take upon themselves incum- 
brances that will hinder and forever blight all pros- 
pect of receiving the prize, eternal life. Any love 
of the world, of its pleasures, its treasures, its hon- 
ors, its emoluments, that would stifle or choke out 
the love of God and of Christ, would defeat the prize 
of eternal life. 

These must all be laid aside, or we may jiist as 
well give up all idea of the prize at the end of the 
race. We must not only lay these aside when we 
enter upon the race, become Christians, but we must 
keep them down. It would have done those men 
no good to lay their weights aside on entering the 
race, and then take them right up again. Neither 
will it profit Christians to lay down their hindrances 
and then take them up again. " The lust of the 
flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life " 
are all too heavy to carry through life and win the 
prize and wear the crown. 

But the apostle speaks of some particular sin as 
the sin which easily besets. It is generally thought 
this was the sin of apostasy from the faith of the 
gospel back into Judaism, which seems to have 
been prevalent among Jewish Christians. This 
may have been the besetting sin among them. The 
Greek conveys the idea of something of oft-repeated 
occurrence and of a tempting character. That was 
true of the sin of apostasy among the Hebrew 
Christians, as the unbelieving Jews were constantly 
doing all they could to induce those who had em- 



218 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

braced the gospel to give it up and go back to the 
law of Moses again. But the Greek would embrace 
equally well any sin that would be a constant 
temptation to the children of God to do things that 
would be out of harmony with the will of God. 
Christians living where there is an everlasting 
struggle to make money, whether by fair or foul 
means, some of whom are succeeding in gaining 
wealth and living in luxury, are in continual dan- 
ger of being overcome by such things. Those who 
are fond of worldly amusements and live where such 
things are going on around them are in continual 
danger. Those who are fond of theaters are in 
great danger in living where they are continually 
going on. Those fond of dancing are always in 
danger where such things go on regularly around 
them. It is a continual temptation to them to en- 
gage in things they are fond of and at all inclined 
to do. It is said a continual dropping wears away 
stone. It is equally true that things we love and 
want to engage in become less and less sinful in 
our eyes,- and the danger of our being carried away 
from truth and duty continually increases. So 
we should be especially careful to rigidly lay aside 
all such encumbrances by keeping out of their 
reach, for we cannot win the race for eternal life 
and indulge in such things. We are living in a 
world and in an age in which there is always some- 
thing going on about us that is liable to draw us 
away from our duties to the Lord. So this injunc- 
tion to lay aside besetting sins is just as applica- 
ble to Christians now as it was to the Hebrew Chris- 
tians. There are always some doubtful things go- 
ing on around us in this world, by which any child 



The Christian Life a Race. 219 

of God might be led into wrong, that he needs to 
carefully and continually guard against. 

In the next place, it is exceedingly important 
that we continually strive to run the race set be- 
fore us with great patience and perseverance. The 
running of this race must engage our leading 
thoughts, desires, and aspirations. We need to 
study the divine rules that govern this race day by 
day, and learn to love, revere, -and most heartily 
approve these divine rules all the time, and make 
them the rules of our lives. If we do not read and 
study them regularly, we shall be liable to violate 
them at any time, and thus defeat our right to the 
prize, the tree of life. " Blessed are they that wash 
their robes, that they may have the right to come 
to the tree of life, and may enter in by the gates 
into the city." (Rev. 22 : 14.) This eternal city, 
with the right to the tree of life, is the great prize 
that is offered to every faithful child of God. 

The rules, or requirements, by which such a prize 
can be gained should never be counted irksome, 
burdensome, or unpleasant. We should, therefore, 
never become weary or impatient in observing the 
rules by which this greatest of all races is to be 
run. There is no other prize to be compared to 
that which is offered the faithful child of God. 
' The wages of sin is death " — that is, eternal death 
— while " the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ 
Jesus our Lord." (Rom. 6: 23.) Who can rightly 
and fully measure the difference between eternal 
death and eternal life? Yet the matter is so placed 
before us that if we fail to so run as to gain eter- 
nal life, we are then sure of eternal death. There 
are but these two destinies hereafter ; and if we fail 



220 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

to patiently run the race set before us, fail to live 
the Christian life as the word of God directs, then 
eternal death is certain. Brethren, do you seri- 
ously study these two destinies, and what it will be 
to miss the one and be hurled down to the other? 
Surely all ought to study this well, and by faithful 
living prepare to be worthy of eternal life. 

There are many things 'over which Christians al- 
low themselves to become impatient, restless, and 
fretful, by which success in the Christian life is 
greatly hindered. Some become impatient under 
the wholesome, the necessary, restraints of Chris- 
tianity — restraints from things that are out of har- 
mony with the purity and devotion of the require- 
ments of the Lord at the hands of his servants — and 
break over and do things to gratify fleshly minds, 
over which sincere repentance has to be done, or 
the soul lost. Hence the necessity of great pa- 
tience in running this race. Indeed, it cannot be 
run without patience. We need patience every day 
in combating our temper, the passions of anger, 
hatred, malice, jealousy, envy, and all sorts of bit- 
terness. It is only by patiently considering the 
word of God, cultivating the spirit of Christ and the 
great principles of love that we can overcome the 
sinful emotions of the flesh. 

Patience is a wonderful power in the work oi 
overcoming and controlling the flesh, with its affec- 
tions and lusts. "And let patience have its perfect 
work, that ye- may be perfect and entire, lacking 
in nothing." (James 1 : 4.) No man, therefore, can 
perfect the Christian character without the exercisv 
of patience. " Patience," " forbearance," " long- 
suffering," " endurance," and suc'n vrordo, are closely 



The Christian Life a Race. 221 

allied to each other in meaning, and each one is 
sometimes so used as to include much of the mean- 
ing of the others. Thayer says of the original 
word : " In the New Testament, the characteristic 
of a man who is unswerved from his deliberate pur- 
pose and his loyalty to faith and piety by even the 
greatest trials and sufferings." 

Job is an illustration of this. " Behold, we call 
them blessed that endured : ye have heard of the 
patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, 
how that the Lord is full of pity, and merciful." 
(James 5 : 11.) This allusion to Job, the sort of pa- 
tience and endurance he had, is a forcible illustra- 
tion of what patience does for a man that possesses 
it. Never did any man suffer more and greater 
trials in one day than Job. He was a rich man, 
and had thousands of sheep and oxen, of camels 
and asses. All these were 'destroyed or captured. 
The house was blown down upon his seven sons 
and three daughters, and they were all slain, and 
nearly all of his servants. All these things were 
reported to him in quick succession by the few 
servants that escaped. As fast as one told his sad 
story, another would come dashing up and tell his, 
till the news was all broken to him. This was 
surely enough to have stunned and paralyzed any 
ordinary man, or put him into a maniacal state. 
Yet Job, in all this loss and sad bereavement, 
meekly said : "Jehovah gave, and Jehovah hath 
taken away; blessed be the name of Jehovah." " In 
all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly." 
(Job 1 : 21, 22.) 

This fully presents the definition of the word ren- 
dered " patience " in the New Testament. Job had 



222 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

strong faith in God, was fully determined to trust 
him, and was so thoroughly loyal to him that he 
would not allow the loss of his property and all his 
children to turn him away from God, nor to t even 
insinuate that God had done him any injustice or 
had even neglected him. Job was patient indeed. 
He had endurance, meekness, and long-suffering. 
He had, indeed, all those qualities that manifest 
perfection in faith, patience, and loyalty to God. 
He had cultivated these things, had exercised them, 
till he was as nearly perfect in them as men 
ever become. With all the light of the glorious 
gospel of Christ, only a few equal Job in patience 
and all the characteristics that make a true servant 
of God. Christians should remember that they are 
positively commanded to add patience, to put it on, 
to exercise it, so as to make it a prominent part of 
the Christian life. 

When Christ was foretelling the destruction of 
Jerusalem and the calamities that would be con- 
nected with it, he said to his disciples : " In your 
patience ye shall win your souls." (Luke 21 : 19.) 
But how could patience lead them to win their 
souls? By doing as Job did, by cultivating and ex- 
ercising such a degree of patience as to keep them 
loyal and faithful to God. All who did this were 
saved from the literal destruction of Jerusalem ; and 
i r they kept it up until death, it won their souls for 
heaven. Paul says : " Strengthened with all power, 
according to the might of his glory, unto all patience 
and long-suffering with joy." (Col. 1: 11.) Thus 
all these characteristics of patience, endurance, long- 
suffering, perseverance in every good word and 
work, resisting and overcoming evil passions, and 



The Christian Life a Race. 223 

all sorts of temptations and trials, and maintaining 
perfect loyalty to God, are all so connected and so 
important that we. can leave no one of them out and 
have a perfect character in the sight of the Lord. 
Let no one, therefore, suppose he can neglect pa- 
tience, and yet so perfect the Christian character 
as to reach the home in glory. We as the children 
of God are fully responsible for the possession of 
patience, and must cultivate it continually, or our 
Christian characters will be incomplete, and we' 
shall fail to win our souls at last. 

And in this entire Christian race we are to look 
to Jesus, " the author and perfecter of our faith." 
He provided the gospel plan of salvation ; he has all 
authority in heaven and on earth regarding matters 
of salvation. In him are all blessings found that 
pertain to the church on earth ; in him all the prom- 
ises of God are made sure to the Lord's people. 
He is emphatically and to all intents and purposes 
the Head of the church, and his word must govern 
us in all the work and worship of the church. He 
has not left us to legislate one single thing in his 
service. Whoever, therefore, does anything of the 
sort, enters into high treason against Jesus', the 
King and sole authority in all things in his king- 
dom. He is called " King of kings, and Lord of 
lords," in Rev. 19: 16, and we must regard him as 
such. 

One of the greatest sins ever committed by the 
Lord's people is to presume to enact laws by which 
they shall be governed* in anything pertaining to 
their work or worship in his kingdom. It is vir- 
tually dethroning him and assuming to reign in his 
stead. This is the very thing the " man of sin " has 



224 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

been and is still assuming- to do, and for which all 
such are to be destroyed. We are, therefore, to re- 
gard ourselves simply as subjects of his kingdom, 
not as lords and lawmakers in it. We are to be 
law observers, not lawmakers. Christ has given 
us a perfect law, " the law of liberty." (James 1 : 25.) 
If we obey this law, we are free men in Christ, and 
assured of God's richest blessings here and here- 
after. If we do not obey this law, we are none of 
his. Jesus also lived a perfect life, and has left a 
complete example as to what a perfect life is ; and he 
requires that we follow his steps, that we shall live 
as he lived, continually doing the will of God. 

Paul, speaking of God, said : " But of him are ye 
in Christ Jesus, who was made unto us wisdom 
from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and 
redemption." (1 Cor. 1 : 30.) This passage is full 
of meaning. It is through Christ and what he has 
done for us, and has revealed to us by the Spirit 
through the apostles, that all our wisdom comes re- 
garding salvation. Through him we are taught 
God's system of righteousness, sanctification, and 
redemption. Through him we learn how to become 
righteous according to the will of God ; also, how 
to become sanctified, consecrated to that will, and 
made holy ; and the full meaning and extent of re- 
demption in Christ, and how to secure it. W r e are, 
therefore, to look to Christ for everything in the 
whole matter of our soul's salvation. 

It is wonderful how much we can learn as to 
godly riving by studying the life of Christ, and how 
he conducted himself under all the circumstances 
and trying situations in which he was so often 
placed. He was placed in all conceivable trials and 



The Christian Life a Race. 225 

temptations by Satan himself, by the captious Phar- 
isees, scribes, high priests, and elders, in all the 
shrewdness, sharpness, and mean devices they could 
possibly invent ; yet he always came out of them 
unscathed, and never said or did one thing that was 
the least bit out of harmony with the high claim 
that he was the Son of God. He always turned 
their plans and schemes against them in such way 
as to make them feel their defeat, and never showed 
any sort of weakness, ill temper, or any desire to 
harm them. They followed him, hounded him up 
and down the country during the whole three years 
and a half of his personal ministry ; they insulted 
him, slandered him, accused him of being a friend 
of publicans and sinners, meaning it in a low, bad 
sense ; yet in all these trials he never did or said 
a single thing that would not furnish a good ex- 
ample for the purest saint on earth, or that would 
in the least lower or degrade an angel from heaven. 
He was never for a moment puzzled as to what 
answer to give to their most intricate questions, 
nor did he ever contradict anything he had said be- 
fore, or anything any inspired man had ever said 
as to what he should do or be. So we may look 
to him always as an Exemplar that never made a 
mistake. He was never out of patience, and stands 
before us as a perfect example of that virtue. 
Though continually tempted, he did no sin, nor was 
guile ever found in him. 

We should, therefore, study his example contin- 
ually, and strive earnestly and prayerfully to follow 
it. He governed his whole life by his Father's will, 
and all Christians should strive to do the same. 
He "never rendered evil for evil, but always good. 
15 



226 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

He was purely unselfish, and always ready to bless 
and help others, even his enemies. What a beauti- 
ful and holy people Christians would be if they 
would follow the teaching and example of Jesus as 
it stands on record in the New Testament ! Yet 
how many there are who are looking to and trust- 
ing in uninspired men for light and guidance in 
the attainment of salvation, instead of the divine 
guidance and example of the Son of God ! 

Another item of importance in looking to Christ is 
the sacredness of his blood, for without it no sinner 
can be saved. " This cup is the new covenant in 
my blood, even that which is poured out for you." 
(Luke 22: 20.) Of Christ it is said : " In whom we 
have our redemption through his blood, the for- 
giveness of our trespasses, according to the riches 
of his grace." (Eph. 1 : 7.) " But if we walk in 
the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship 
one with another, and the blood of Jesus his Son 
cleanseth us from all sin." (1 John 1: 7.) These 
passages show how thoroughly we are indebted to 
the blood of Christ for the remission of our sins. 
We must, therefore, look to him through his blood, 
" the blood of an eternal covenant, even our Lord 
Jesus." (Heb. 13: 20.) We must look to him 
through his blood in the sense of appropriating the 
benefits of that blood just as the word of the Lord 
directs. We cannot expect the benefits of that 
blood simply because it was shed for the remission 
of sins. We have to comply with the laws of re- 
mission before we can receive its benefits in our 
behalf. So we have to look to Christ through all 
his appointments before we can expect the blessings 
of the new and eternal covenant. 



, The Christian Life a Race. 227 

This race for heaven is truly a grand one, in 
which all our interests for eternity are involved. 
If we fail in this, all is lost forever. We cannot 
win this race unless we strive lawfully. People 
have sought out many new ways of running this 
race. But there is no promise to any except those 
that run it " looking unto Jesus ; " and none can look 
to him with success, except by running the very 
way he has devised and pointed out to us in the 
precious words of eternal truth. Those who run 
this race after the devices and doctrines of men can 
only look to men for the reward. God promises 
none on that line. Our faith is never perfected by 
Jesus, except as we obey him. He is the " author of 
eternal salvation " to none but those that obey him. 
(Heb. 5 : 9.) He was not crowned " King of kings, 
and Lord of lords," till he had fully and com- 
pletely obeyed his Father's will on earth. He " for 
the joy that was set before him endured the cross, 
despising shame, and hath sat down at the right 
hand of the throne of God." 

Surely, if he could endure all that he had to suffer 
in all that he did in preparing a plan of salvation 
for us, we can endure all that a faithful Christian 
life requires, in order to live with him in heaven 
forever. All of us want to wear the crown ; but the 
trouble is in bearing the cross. The Jews all 
wanted to go into the promised land ; but few were 
willing to continue in God's will till they could reach 
it, while nearly all that started from Egypt died 
outside. So we shall fail to reach heaven, unless 
we patiently live the Christian life to the end. 
Surely the joys that are set before us, the joys of 
an eternal home in heaven, ought to stimulate us 



228 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

to run, and not be weary ; to walk the narrow way, 
and not faint. 

We ought, indeed, to rejoice always in running a 
race, living a life that involves so much good for us 
here and the home in glory beyond. Jesus said : " No 
man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking 
back, is fit for the kingdom of God." (Luke 9: 62.) 
Shall it be that all the great and precious promises 
of God will fail to keep us in the right way, the 
way of truth and righteousness, during the short 
period of this life? Though earthly friends may fail 
us in this race ; though disappointments, crosses, and 
losses may come, God will never forsake his own 
dear, faithful children. Even when the dark shad- 
ows of death overtake them, the Lord will enfold 
them in his gracious, loving arms for evermore. 



Examples from the Jewish People. 229 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



Examples from the Jewish People. 



It is understood that the Jewish people, both in 
their obedience and disobedience to the laws of God, 
are largely typical as to Christians. Their story 
bears upon the necessity of continued obedience to 
the will of God as contained in the New Covenant ; 
and the conduct of those people, especially as to 
their disobedience, is given to us extensively by 
the apostles, as examples for us. Teaching by ex- 
amples is a wonderfully forcible sort of teaching. 
In them we can plainly see the principle upon which 
God dealt with the Jews, and likewise the princi- 
ple upon which he will deal with us, since they and 
God's dealings with them are our examples. They 
show us very plainly the estimate God places upon 
his will, his divine requirements. They show us, 
also, that God did not deal with them as a tyrant, 
but that he chastened them purely for their good. 

Everybody that reads the Bible knows that the 
only free and purely happy people this world holds, 
or ever has held, are those who most faithfully fol- 
low the teaching of the word of God. Sinners are 
always in bondage ; they are never free ; and sin 
is a very hard taskmaster. Those who are in bond- 
age under sin . can never be permanently happy. 
Adam and Eve were free and happy till they sinned. 
When they yielded themselves to enter into sin, 



230 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

they entered dark shadows of bondage, of fear, and 
remorse that follows a guilty conscience, and were 
never free again. During the greater part of the * 
life of Abraham he was one of the purely free and 
happy men of antiquity, because he was one of the 
most faithful servants of God that ever blessed the 
world. The apostle Paul was one of God's free men, 
though often in prison and chains. So the reason 
why God dealt with the Jewish people " rigidly," as 
some would say, was in order that they might be- 
come a free and happy people ; and when, as a peo- 
ple, they obeyed God, they were the nearest a free 
and happy people of all the nations of antiquity ; 
but when they became incorrigibly wicked, chas- 
tisements would come, and wax worse and worse, 
till they would humble themselves before the Lord, 
break off from their sins, and cry mightily unto the 
Lord for help. The Lord, in his abundant mercy, 
would hear them and send the relief for which they 
were pleading. 

We will to some extent present the Jewish peo- 
ple in the lifetime of Joshua and of several gen- 
erations following. When Joshua became the 
leader of the Jewish people instead of Moses, he 
and all of them had just had large experience and 
observation as to God's dealings with his people. 
The forty-years' wandering had just ended, during 
which all their fathers had died on account of their 
sins. Even Moses had been deprived of the privi- 
lege of leading the people into the promised land 
on account of his sin at Meribah Kadesh, and he 
had died upon the lonely mountain top, whence he 
had been viewing that goodly land, and was buried 
by the Lord, so that no man ever knew the place 



Examples from the Jewish People. 231 

where his remains were laid. These things ought 
to have seriously impressed them with the impor- 
tance of obeying God; and, in the main, they did 
obey him through the lifetime of Joshua. Their 
miraculous crossing of the Jordan when it was over- 
flowing its banks, and the wonderful deliverance 
of Jericho into their hands, ought to have made an 
impression that time could never wear out. Joshua 
was one of those unusually good men that occasion- 
ally bless the world. 

He and Caleb went through all the temptations 
that caught so many in the toils and caused them 
to wander in the wilderness till they all died, without 
yielding to any of them, and were especially named 
and complimented for not having yielded to sin as 
did the others. Their names, therefore, stood upon 
the roll of honor. Then Joshua was honored with 
the very exalted privilege of taking the children of 
Israel into Canaan and locating them in their long- 
promised country. He led them in the wars that 
made room for them, and was faithful in all the 
Lord appointed for him to do. There is no sin 
charged against Joshua. He was certainly a very 
excellent arid honorable character, and one well 
worthy of imitation. He taught the Jewish people 
the right way, and exerted such an influence upon 
them for good that they were faithful to the Lord 
all the days of Joshua and during the lives of 
the elders that lived in that period. Before his 
death he called the elders and leaders of the peo- 
ple together and made a remarkably strong appeal 
to them to be faithful to the Lord. He said to 
them : " Now therefore fear Jehovah, and serve him 
in sincerity and in truth ; and put away the gods 



232 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

which your fathers served beyond the River, and 
in Egypt; and serve ye Jehovah. And if it seem 
evil unto you to serve Jehovah, choose you this day 
whom ye will serve ; whether the gods which your 
fathers served that were beyond the River, or the 
gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell : but 
as for me and my house, we will serve Jehovah. 
And the people answered and said, Far be it from 
us that we should forsake Jehovah, to serve other 
gods ; for Jehovah our God, he it is that brought 
us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, 
from the house of bondage, and that did those great 
signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way 
wherein we went, and among all the peoples through 
the midst of whom we passed ; and Jehovah drove 
out from before us all the peoples, even the Amo- 
rites that dwelt in the land : therefore we also will 
serve Jehovah; for he is our God." (Josh. 24: 14- 
18.) 

This was certainly a very solemn appeal made 
to them by one they so tenderly loved and in whom 
they lovingly confided. He had led them for many 
years through war and conflicts, had led them to 
victory and triumphs over their wicked foes, and 
was then close to his journey's end. The appeal, 
therefore, was very tender and touching to them. 
He put his appeal in such form as to cause them 
to speak out emphatically. He first exhorted them 
directly to fear and serve Jehovah, who had brought 
them out of Egypt ; but if it seemed to them evil 
to serve Jehovah, they were to choose between the 
gods their fathers had served and the gods of the 
Amorites in the land where they then were. They 
very emphatically answered : " Far be it from us 



Examples from the Jewish People. 233 

that we should forsake Jehovah, to serve other 
gods." They thus showed themselves willing to 
forsake all idolatry for the sake of Jehovah ; and 
those of the elders that made this response likely 
carried it out, because, while those elders lived after 
Joshua's death, they all did very well. Joshua's ex- 
pressed resolution that he and his house would 
serve the Lord, shows a determination from which 
nothing could turn him. So he died as he had lived, 
fully loyal to God. 

But when Joshua was dead, and the elders that 
had known his godly life, the Jews began to rapidly 
depart. In the first place, the masses of them be- 
gan early to disregard the commands of God re- 
garding those heathen people. They refused to 
drive them out as God had said, and to destroy their 
idolatry as commanded, but made leagues with 
them and began to intermarry among them, which 
God had forbidden them to do. Very many of the 
tribes were in this sort of rebellion. They also be- 
gan to go into idolatry with the nations among 
whom they were marrying and giving in marriage. 
The Lord has always been forbearing and long- 
suffering toward his people, and has always given 
abundant warnings against evil, so as to leave them 
without excuse. So an angel of the Lord was sent 
to testify against their evil course, and tell them 
of the consequences of the course they w r ere pursu- 
ing, and thus to reprove them for their wickedness. 
He told them the heathen people they were spar- 
ing would become as thorns in their sides, and their 
gods would be a snare unto them. 

The people wept over this sad message, but did 
not turn from their evil ways. They grew grad- 



234 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

ually worse and worse, until the forbearance of Je- 
hovah wore out. So the following terrible state- 
ment of their horrible corruptions was made : "And 
the children of Israel did that which was evil in the 
sight of Jehovah, and served the Baalim ; and they 
forsook Jehovah, the God of their fathers, who 
brought them out of the land of Egypt, and fol- 
lowed other gods, of the gods of the peoples that 
were round about them, and bowed themselves 
down unto them : and they provoked Jehovah to 
anger. And they forsook Jehovah, and served Baal 
and the Ashtaroth." (Judg. 2: 11-13.) This was 
truly a severe indictment against those people ; and 
that it should occur so soon after Joshua had made 
such an appeal to them not to forsake the Lord, and 
such solemn and positive promises were made that 
they would serve the Lord, seems almost unac- 
countably strange. It was likely scarcely thirty 
years from the death of Joshua until they were 
plunging into these terrible depths of idolatry. The 
old men that made the promises to continue to serve 
the Lord had likely passed out, and thei,r children 
soon began to go their own way. 

Humanity is a frail affair at best. This is espe- 
cially true when they have no man of age, firmness, 
and determination to teach, admonish, and lead 
them, as Joshua had been. The masses of people, 
and especially the young, need always a man of age, 
piety, and devotion to God, to lead them the right 
way — a man, too, in whom they have confidence 
as to his own uprightness in life ; and it would seem 
as if the Jews at this time had no such leaders. At 
any rate, the masses of those people were in a very 
bad way at the time the above indictments were 



Examples from the Jewish People. 235 

registered against them. It does not mean that ev- 
erybody had gone to that extent of idolatry; but 
the masses had. These facts show the importance 
of continued watchfulness on the part of the Lord's 
people to-day, lest the}^ also fall away after the 
same example of unbelief. 

From these facts concerning the rapidity with 
which they plunged into sin, we need not be aston- 
ished at what immediately follows : "And the anger 
of Jehovah was kindled against Israel, and he de- 
livered them into the hands of spoilers that de- 
spoiled them." (Verse 14.) These spoilers likely 
were marauding bands, robbers, or bandits that 
stole around through the country, seizing what- 
ever they could lay their hands on. But things 
soon grew worse, and heavier chastisements came 
upon them. "And the children of Israel did that 
which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, and forgot 
Jehovah their God, and served the Baalim and Ashe- 
roth. Therefore the anger of Jehovah was kindled 
against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of 
Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia : and the 
children of Israel served Cushan-rishathaim eight 
years." , (Judg. 3 : 7 , 8.) This was a severe chas- 
tisement, and they felt it deeply. To be in bondage 
under a strange nation that took possession of what- 
ever suited them, depriving the captives of liberty 
and independence, so they had to get permission for 
all they did and used, was no small matter. It soon 
waked them up to a sense of their sins, so that, as 
these eight years of bondage began to drag their 
heavy weight toward the end, they humbled them- 
selves, and began to look to the Lord for help; 
for this king doubtless forced them to pay a heavy 



236 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

tribute, which took all they could make, except 
barely enough to live upon. 

"And when the children of Israel cried unto Je- 
hovah, Jehovah raised up a savior to the children 
of Israel, who saved them, even Othniel the son 
of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother." (Verse 9.) 
The Lord is always ready to bless and help peo- 
ple when they make themselves worthy of help. So 
the Spirit came mightily upon Othniel, and he and 
the children of Israel prevailed over their enemies, 
so that they freed themselves from the yoke of that 
foreign, wicked king, and they were blessed with 
peace in the land for forty years ; and Othniel 
judged them. He was of a good family, closely 
related to Caleb, who, with Joshua, stood so close 
and loyal to Jehovah at the rebellion against going 
in to possess the land of Canaan. It is wonderful 
what an influence one truly godly man can have 
over people, even a whole nation ! 

But as the forty years were rolling rapidly by, 
Othniel, their leader, deliverer, and judge, died ; and, 
left without his oversight, advice, teaching, and the 
influence of his godly life, they soon became in- 
different to the service of God ; they lapsed back into 
sin again, and worshiped the gods of the heathen 
people about them, and became so corrupt that the 
Lord raised up another enemy against them, which 
was Eglon, the king of Moab, a neighboring peo- 
ple that they should have driven out. He also as-' 
sociated with him the people of Ammon and Ama- 
lek. They overpowered Israel, and held them in 
bondage for eighteen years. Again were they made 
humble by this sore bondage, and were so brought 
down that they again cried most piteously to the 



Examples from the- Jewish People. 237 

Lord ; and when he saw that they had again hum- 
bled themselves, he raised them up another judge 
and deliverer named Ehud, of the tribe of Ben- 
jamin. He slew Eglon, the king", by strategy, went 
.out and gathered an army, and overpowered Moab, 
and slew ten thousand valiant men of them, and 
their enemies were subdued, and this time they had 
peace for eighty years. 

It does look as if these things ought to have so 
impressed the children of Israel that they would 
have refrained from sin, and would have learned to 
be a faithful and loyal people. But — alas ! — human-" 
ity is not much to be relied upon. We, as the chil- 
dren of God, should learn from these examples to 
keep close to the Lord, and keep his word contin- 
ually in our hearts, and follow its teaching every 
day and hour. Only in this way is any man safe 
from the wiles of the great enemy of souls. 

These people went into sin again, and a man named 
Shamgar was made judge, and saved them again, 
slaying six hundred of the Philistines with an ox- 
goad. There is' not much said about this trouble. 
But another lapse came after Ehud's death. "And 
the children of Israel again did that which was evil 
in the sight of Jehovah, when Ehud was dead. And 
Jehovah sold them into the hand of Jabin king of 
Canaan, that reigned in Hazor ; the captain of whose 
host was Sisera, who dwelt in Harosheth of the 
Gentiles." (Judg. 4: 1, 2.) A woman named Deb- 
orah, wife of Lapidoth, was judging Israel at this 
time, and the children of Israel came to her to 
be judged. She was not commander of an army, 
nor anything like that ; but evidently she was a 
godly woman, and likely godly men were scarce at 



238 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

that time. She dwelt in the hill country of Ephraim, 
and the people went to her for judgment. She evi- 
dently judged them in a quiet sort of way, and was 
inspired and able to foretell things. 

At this time this king had been oppressing this 
people for twenty years. He had a strong army, 
with nine hundred chariots of iron, and was heavily 
oppressing the Jewish people. Deborah sent and 
called a man named Barak, and told him to make 
ready to carry an army against Jabin, and that the 
Lord would deliver Jabin's forces into his hands ; but 
for some unexpressed reason Barak manifested a 
little of a rebellious spirit, and replied to Deborah : 
" If thou wilt go with me, then I will go ; but if 
thou wilt not go with me, I will not go." (Verse 8.) 
Deborah told him she would certainly go with him, 
but that the trip would not be to his honor, for 
Jehovah would sell Sisera, Jabin's general, into the 
hands of a woman ; and so she went. 

When the forces joined battle, the Lord was with 
the Jews, and Sisera and his forces were soon 
routed, in spite of their nine hundred chariots of 
iron, and Sisera fled away on foot, trying to escape. 
He made his way into " the tent of Jael the wife 
of Heber the Kenite." The Kenites sprang from 
the family of the wife of Moses. These and Jabin's 
people were on friendly terms. When he went into 
her tent, he asked for water, and she gave him 
milk to drink. He lay down, told Jael to stand 
in the door, and that if any came and inquired 
if there was a man in there, to tell them, " No." So 
Sisera, being weary, was soon asleep ; and Jael took 
a sharp-pointed tent pin and a hammer, went to 
him softly as he was sleeping, and drove the tent 



Examples from the Jewish People. 239 

pin through his temples and into the ground. 
Quickly he was a dead man. Soon Barak came 
along in pursuit, and Jael said to him, " Here is the 
man you seek," and showed him the dead body of 
Sisera. Thus the army of Jabin, the Canaanitish 
king that had given the Jews so much trouble, was 
almost demolished, with his nine hundred chariots. 
They kept on until Jabin was destroyed. In this 
way those wicked people that were left in Canaan 
were mostly destroyed finally, but not till they had 
terribly chastened and punished the children of Is- 
rael. 

These things show what a terrible scourge and 
destroyer sin is. If the Israelites had not sinned 
so terribly, they might long before this time have 
cleared the land of Canaan of all these wicked, idol- 
atrous people, and had all that fine country to them- 
selves, and been living in peace and plenty. In- 
stead of that, they themselves were scourged, 
brought into bondage, and almost worn out from 
time to time, thus verifying these words of Paul : 
"Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." 
The children of Israel had been sowing to the 
flesh, and of the flesh had been reaping sad ruin. 
The full extent that they suffered on account of 
their sins, no tongue can tell and no pen can de- 
scribe. The two sides of sin and suffering, and of 
righteousness, success, and prosperity, show them- 
selves so clearly in the varied vicissitudes through 
which these people passed that no one can read 
these things and not see and realize the great sin- 
fulness of sin, and the sufferings and ruin that it 
brings. Surely they were very slow to learn, even 
from their own experiences. The very same expe- 



240 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

riences over and over, with the very same sort of 
results, and still they were cured only temporarily. 
When their enemies were subdued and they were 
set free, it was only a period of a few years until 
they were repeating the sins of their ancestors. 

But such is humanity, and such has been the his- 
tory of the whole human race. No family or tribe 
or nation of people have ever remained a holy and 
upright people very long at a time. Other people 
have shown themselves to be unstable as well as 
the Jews. They are by no means the only sinners ; 
but they surely have been, and still are, very great 
sinners. Millions of • them to-day, though reared 
with the knowledge of God, still reject the Son of 
God, with all the blessings he has provided for the 
human race, and are still in rebellion against God 
and against the interests of their own souls. With 
the advantages we have in the history of those peo- 
ple, we surely ought to learn to be more faithful 
in these days, with all the additional light that is 
afforded us in the glorious gospel of Christ. We 
surely ought to see more clearly the weakness of 
humanity and the great importance of availing our- 
selves of the help the Lord has provided for us 
through Jesus Christ our Lord. There certainly 
has never lived a people on earth with so many ad- 
vantages of light and of knowledge from others, so 
many examples of the sins and failures of others, 
and the causes of those failures. We can look at 
the sins and consequent failures, bondage, and ruin 
that befell those people, and see as in a glass the 
dangers that beset us as human beings, and the 
wrecks and pitfalls that lie in our future, unless we 
lead better lives than they led, by striving to un- 



Examples from the Jewish' People. 241 

derstand the word of the Lord and to follow more 
closely its divine directions. 

We can see how and why those people made so 
many and such sad failures, and why they had to 
undergo such awful sufferings. They failed to 
love God, to love his word, his holy will ; they 
loved the world and the ways of the world and sin 
more than they loved God and his truth. They, 
therefore, followed the ways of the world and of 
sin instead of following the ways of God and of 
holiness. And as they failed so often to live up to 
the light they had, and turned aside after sin and 
folly, and brought such woes and sufferings upon 
themselves, had we not better be careful, lest we 
trample upon our opportunities, sow to the flesh 
rather than to the Spirit, and bring woes and suffer- 
ings upon ourselves also? The woes that we may 
bring are farther reaching and of a more serious 
nature than the sins and consequences they brought 
upon themselves. They brought enemies upon 
themselves by their sins, brought wars and blood- 
shed, brought bondage, brought hunger and thirst, 
brought the loss of earthly homes, broke up family 
relations, and destroyed peace, safety, and every- 
thing that makes life endurable. But what do we 
bring upon ourselves now by turning from God and 
Christ and the precious light of eternal truth? We 
blight the purity and sweetness of our Christian 
homes, and lose our own souls in eternal darkness 
and woe. What advantage shall we have at the 
great day of accounts over them? They did not 
have the light of eternal life nor of eternal death be- 
fore them ; but we have it in all its fullness, and 
will be that much more blameworthy if we close 

16 



242 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

our eyes to all the precious light we have, and turn 
to walk in the ways of sin and death. Surely we 
will not allow all these examples to pass before our 
eyes and make no impression upon us for good. 

The apostles refer us many times to the Jews as 
our exemplars — to the righteous ones as examples 
of faith and its power and influence upon men for 
good ; to the examples of disobedience and the suf- 
ferings resulting, to impress us with the certainty 
that we shall be called upon to render an account 
for the evils we do in departing from the living God. 
He is no respecter of persons, and as certainly as he 
held the Jews to a strict account for their unfaith- 
fulness, so certainly will he hold us to an even more 
rigid account than he did them, because we have 
so much more light than they had. The apostle 
Paul says : "A man that hath set at naught Moses' 
law dieth without compassion on the word of two 
or three witnesses : of how much sorer punishment, 
think ye, shall he be judged worthy, who hath trod- 
den under foot the Son of God, and hath counted 
the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sancti- 
fied an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto 
the Spirit of grace ? " (Heb. 10 : 28, 29.) 

It is a most serious thing for a man with the light 
of the New Covenant before him, and the examples 
of the Old Covenant also recorded for his benefit, 
to turn away from God, from Christ, from the blood 
of Christ, and count them as but nothing, and fol- 
low " the world, the flesh, and the devil." There 
can be no apology made for the man that comes 
to the light, embraces it, walks in it for a time, 
sees the beauty and holiness of the light, and by 
faith looks into the home of the soul, and then al- 



Examples from the Jewish People. 243 

lows the flesh and the allurements of the world to 
turn him away from the light into the darkness of 
sin and death. Since, therefore, the many examples 
of the unfaithful Jewish people are given us, to the 
intent that we should not lust after evil things as 
they did, let us study them, treasure them, medi- 
tate upon them. Let us also pray God to help us 
to so regard these examples that we may be con- 
tinually strengthened and assisted by them to lead 
a faithful, Christian life. 

One singular feature about those Jews was in the 
fact that their reformations were so short. They 
seemed to get very humble while their great dis- 
tress was upon them ; but when the trouble was 
taken away, they lapsed back into the same old sins 
in so short a time as to make the impression that 
their apparent repentance was on account of their 
sufferings, rather than on account of their sins. 
That sort of repentance never lasts long. But we 
should remember there was not much provision 
made under the law of Moses for the cultivation 
and purification of the heart, or the cultivation of a 
pure and tender conscience. So if under Chris- 
tianity, in which we have so many advantages they 
did not have, we go into sin, there cannot be the 
allowances made for our sins that were made for 
theirs. We are better prepared to see and realize 
the blackness and enormity of sin than they were. 
So when Christians sin, they should learn not 
merely to look at the shame or disgrace it may 
bring, but at the awful blight that sin may bring 
upon the soul. 

The disgrace that sin may bring is a very small 
matter as compared with the guilt of sin. Sin is to 



244 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

be more feared than leprosy of the body. The lat- 
ter may destroy the body ; while the former, if in- 
dulged, will destroy the soul forever. So the chil- 
dren of God to-day should strive honestly to get 
rid of the guilt, the awful stain of sin upon the in- 
ner man. The Jews kept on repeating their sins 
throughout the age of the judges and of the kings 
of Israel. These sins are abundantly given in the 
Old Testament, and the punishments resulting 
therefrom, and, by the goodness of God, stand be- 
fore us as lasting warnings of the awful dangers 
that hang over us if we practice sin. Let all, there- 
fore, study these things and shun sin as they would 
shun the horrors of eternal ruin. 



Unauthorized and Ruinous Opinions. 245 



CHAPTER XIX. 



Unauthorized and Ruinous Opinions. 



Paul says : " But foolish and ignorant questionings 
refuse, knowing that they gender strifes." (2 Tim. 
2: 23.) With the plainness of the New Testament 
on all matters of faith and practice, it is astonish- 
ing that there should be so many unfounded opin- 
ions rising up among those claiming to be the fol- 
lowers of Christ. An opinion is a notion, idea, 
impression, view, or judgment formed, for which 
there is no direct testimony or information found 
in the oracles of God upon which to base it. There 
is a vast difference between faith and opinion. 
Faith is the belief of what is stated in the word 
of God. Whatever the word of God plainly says 
should always be regarded as a matter of faith ; for 
faith, belief, comes by hearing the word of God. If 
all would study and appreciate the difference be- 
tween faith and opinion, and would be careful to 
always use these words according to their legiti- 
mate meaning, and never confound their meaning 
by using one when the other should be used, very 
much of the trouble and division that now exists 
in the religious world might be avoided. 

Opinions are always more or less matters of igno- 
rance. Those who form and express them do not 
and cannot know them to be true ; for if these opin- 
ions were anywhere stated in the word of God, 



246 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

then they would not be matters of opinion, but of 
faith, for we are required to believe what the word 
of God says. Hence, opinions should never be 
talked, taught, or argued as matters of faith. Men 
who hold and argue opinions are adding to the 
word of God. They lead people to accept and re- 
gard them as the word of God, when they are only 
the words of uninspired men. 

Moses says : " The secret things belong unto Je- 
hovah our God ; but the things that are revealed 
belong unto us and to our children forever, that we 
may do all the words of this law." (Deut. 29: 29.) 
The " secret things " spoken of in this passage mean 
things not revealed to us. These all belong to the 
Lord, and not to us. We have no concern about 
such things, and nothing to do with them. If we 
knew every truth not revealed in the word of God, 
these would not save us. It takes the things that 
are revealed to save. So it is a loss to men to be 
spending time over things not revealed, not ex- 
pressed in the oracles of God. Everything the 
Jews needed to know as to the service of God was 
given in the law, in the Old Testament, and could 
be known and understood by all who desired to 
know them, and they could have obeyed that law 
so as to become a prosperous and happy people. 
The law given through Moses was, indeed, the only 
thing that could have made the Jewish people pros- 
perous and happy, and the only thing that could 
have made them obedient to God. He revealed to 
them plainly all that he wanted them to do, and 
nothing but that would have sufficed. 

The Jews, however, were forever trying some- 
thing else, but it always brought a curse upon them 



Unauthorized and Ruinous Opinions, 247 

instead of a blessing. If they could have known 
everything else in the world, except the law, and 
left that out, they still would have been condemned. 
They tried almost everything else within the range 
of their thoughts, and still they were condemned. 
Had they spent their time in learning and doing 
what was plainly written in the law, they would 
have been the most happy and prosperous people 
the world ever saw while it was in force. But, in- 
stead of that, they were forever doing things plainly 
condemned, or not revealed in any way, and were 
thus continually bringing condemnation on their 
own heads. We ought to see that, and take warn- 
ing against following opinions instead of what is 
plainly written in the New Testament. All that 
God wants us to do is plainly written there. If 
we reject that, no matter what else we do, we are 
as sure to be condemned as the Jews were when 
they rejected the law and did something else. 

The great foundation of human opinions in reli- 
gion lies in the fact that so many people are not 
satisfied with the word of the Lord as it is. It 
takes so much self-denial and so much practical de- 
votion to go to heaven, according to the word of 
the Lord, that people do not like to submit, and 
are trying continually to find some other way they 
think will do as well. Some brush the whole thing 
out of the way, and say : " There is no God." David 
says this is what " the fool hath said in his heart." 
According to this, there must be a good many fools 
in the world now, for there are many that say 
there is no God. One thing this claim does is 
to cut them loose from any responsibility to any 
power or being higher than themselves. But what 



248 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

is this worth to them? Everybody in this Bible 
land knows that this claim makes people worse in- 
stead of better. It takes away all fear of retribu- 
tion, of punishment here or hereafter, and leaves 
man as his own god and his own judge. 

This breaks down the dominion of conscience, 
and leaves man to decide in and of himself what is 
right for him to do ; and as to wrong, the idea that 
there is no God makes anything right a man wants 
to do. It destroys all idea of wrong and all re- 
sponsibility for wrong, since there will be no one 
to administer punishment for wrongdoing hereafter, 
even if there is any such thing as wrong; and, be- 
sides, if there is no God, there is no hereafter for 
man, and no one there to be punished. There is 
nothing in the world in such an idea to make any 
one good, nor to hinder any one from doing any- 
thing he wants to do. Such an idea takes all the 
brakes off of conscience, so that it will not reprove 
us for anything, so far as eternity is concerned ; 
for there is no eternity if there is no God — no 
eternal life, no eternal death. To deny God is to 
deny all truth, deny that man is anything but an 
animal, or that there is anything for man after 
death, any more than for a dog or a lion. Is there 
anything in such ideas to uplift man, to give him 
any aspirations to make anything more of himself 
in this life than a pig or a butterfly ? There is some- 
thing in believing in God and believing the word 
of God. It shows some design in the universe, some 
purpose in hitman life, something to stimulate as- 
piration and to lift man above the mere animal 
creation and to show himself worthy of existence. 
But suppose the idea is correct that there is no God, 



Unauthorized and Ruinous Opinions. 249 

what is gained by it that is worth anything? Sim- 
ply nothing in the world. On the other hand, ev- 
erybody would dwindle down to mere animal self- 
ishness, in which might would make right, and love 
and mercy would soon be lost, and the world soon 
be full of demons in human form, and human life 
the greatest misfortune that could befall, and the 
world would soon be a scene of corruption and 
misery. 

But everybody in Bible lands knows that society 
is made incomparably better, purer, and holier by 
believing and obeying the Bible, believing in God 
and all he says, than those who deny, or who have 
no knowledge of either God or the Bible can pos- 
sibly be. So every influence for good that the 
Bible and the Christian religion accomplishes proves 
the falsity of the claim that there is no God. Such 
an idea is not only an absurdity, but a blight, a 
cloud of darkness that all the wisdom and intelli- 
gence of a thousand such worlds can never dissi- 
pate or remove. And, besides, if the infidel idea 
should turn out to be correct, the Christian will be 
just as well off at death as the infidel. But, on the 
other hand, if it be true that God exists, and that 
the Bible is true, then the unbeliever is doomed in 
eternity beyond the possibility of a doubt. So all 
advantages, both in time and in eternity, are with 
the man that believes and obeys the Bible. So if 
there were no God and no eternity for man, it is 
ten thousand times better in this life to believe and 
practice the Bible. The false and foolish idea, 
therefore, that there is no God cannot possibly bring 
any good to man in any sense in the wide world. 
It brings only evil, and that continually and for- 



250 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

ever — and the greatest evil that could be imagined, 
at that. 

The darkest, gloomiest, and most uncalled-for 
blight that has ever cast its murky clouds over this 
earth is surely the shriveling, pinching, awful blight 
of unbelief ! To believe what the Bible plainly says 
about the creation of the heavens and the earth and 
of man, and the history of the human race ; of the 
origin of sin, and of death on account of sin, also 
the ruin that sin is continually bringing upon man ; 
and of the happiness, the elevation, the purity of 
heart and life that faith and obedience have always 
brought, is inspiring, uplifting, satisfying, encour- 
aging, and consoling, beyond the power of tongue 
or pen to express. But the history of unbelief and 
unfaithfulness both to God and to man that the Bi- 
ble records gives the darkest shading that disgraces 
every feature of the whole history of man on earth. 

On the other hand, the brightest pages of the 
whole history of man are the accounts given of the 
men and women that believed in God and obeyed 
his word — Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ; Moses, Ca- 
leb, and Joshua; Othniel, Deborah, Barak, Gideon, 
Samuel, and David, with a perfect host of others of 
Old Testament times, together with John the Bap- 
tist, Peter, James, John, Paul, and a great number 
of others that we cannot name, whose beautiful and 
godly lives make the only true light that belongs 
to the picture of humanity on this earth. The man 
that lives in a land of Bibles, and who has had 
the advantages of Bible instruction and of the his- 
tory of the Man of Galilee ; what he has done 
for the redemption of man on earth ; and, in spite 
of all this, still says there is no God, no Creator of 



Unauthorized and Ruinous Opinions. 251 

the heavens, the earth, and of man, and no hope 
for the future, is assuredly the darkest, most be- 
nighted and hopeless member of mankind that the 
world holds to-day ; with scarcely a possibility that 
the dark mists and fogs of ignorance and folly that 
have settled down on him will ever be scattered so 
as to allow the bright light of heaven's truth ever to 
illumine his heart. 

But there is another assumption, another ignorant 
and foolish opinion, that there is not a word of 
foundation for in the Bible, that is likely more dan- 
gerous to society than the one just presented. That 
is Universalism — the claim that all men will ulti- 
mately be holy and happy. It is more dangerous 
than avowed infidelity, in that Universalists claim 
the Bible teaches it. When a man advocates some- 
thing that blots out God and Revelation and oblit- 
erates heaven and hell, the people are afraid of him 
and avoid him, and this hinders his influence ; but 
when a man starts up a cranky notion, opinion, and 
proposes to prove it by the Bible, people will more 
readily listen to him, and this gives him a much 
better chance to deceive. 

The claim, however, that the Bible teaches this 
absurd opinion is false. There is not a passage in 
that inspired volume that expresses or in any way 
teaches any such thing. Ask a Universalist to show 
you a passage that says all men will be ultimately 
holy and happy, or a passage that expresses that 
idea, and you silence him. There is no such pas- 
sage. If there were, then you would have a palpa- 
ble contradiction ; for Jesus said of the wicked : 
"And these shall go away into eternal punishment: 
but the righteous into eternal life." (Matt. 25 : 46.) 



252 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

This passage plainly declares eternal punishment 
for the wicked ; and if a passage could be found 
that teaches in any language that all will ultimately 
be holy and happy, then you simply have a con- 
tradiction that could not be explained away, for in 
the passage quoted there is a double denial that all 
will be finally holy and happy. It not only says the 
wicked will go into eternal punishment ; but in the 
same sentence there is another class, the righteous, 
and the righteous only, who shall go into eternal 
life. The same word, " eternal," expresses the du- 
ration of both the punishment of the wicked and 
the happiness of the righteous. So if the punish- 
ment of the wicked shall end, so will the happiness 
of the righteous. It is the same word in Greek, 
as in the above, that expresses the duration of both. 
Hence, if the punishment ends, so will happiness, 
so that there will no longer be happiness for them 
to enjoy. So this forever forbids the idea of any 
eternal happiness for the wicked ; for if hell ends, 
so will heaven. Such an opinion, therefore, as an 
end of the punishment of the wicked is simply and 
only an ignorant, untaught opinion that contradicts 
very many as plain passages as there are in the Bi- 
ble, and, if maintained, would destroy all credence 
in the Bible. 

But it may be asked : " What is the danger in ac- 
cepting and relying upon "this opinion ? " Simply 
this : Those who accept this opinion are not likely 
to deny themselves and faithfully live the Christian 
life as the word of God requires, and will not, there- 
fore, be entitled to the promise of heaven, and will 
be lost, as will be the case with all who do not live 
the Christian life. Take away the fear of eternal 



Unauthorized and Ruinous Opinions. 253 

punishment, and in nine cases out of ten you destroy 
faithfulness in the Christian life, and this will cer- 
tainly defeat eternal life. On the other hand, the 
Christian that holds out to the end will have noth- 
ing to lose, even if Universalism should turn out to 
be true. The faithful Christian is safe in any event. 
There is always safety in that. But if it turns out 
that Universalism is false, which is bound to be the 
case, since it flatly contradicts the word of God, 
then there is nothing left but for those who rely 
upon it to be lost. So all the importance of eter- 
nal life depends upon repudiating this ignorant and 
foolish opinion, and sticking to a practical, faithful, 
Christian life, and then there is nothing to fear. 
The danger, therefore, is to him that relies upon 
an opinion that contradicts the Son of God. On 
the one hand, God places the inducement of eternal 
life to win man's heart and life to his service. On 
the other hand, he places eternal ruin as the con- 
sequence of not doing the Lord's will. God knew 
that both these were necessary to be placed before 
men, or they would not have been so placed. The 
man, therefore, that in any away takes away the 
warnings that God has placed side by side with his 
precious promises, takes away from the word of 
God, and exposes himself to the very thing he de- 
nies, which is eternal punishment. To either take 
from or add to the word of God endangers the eter- 
nal interests and deprives him of the hope of eter- 
nal life. 

People do not realize what they are risking when 
they take up these opinions, which are not only not 
found in the ~word of God, but actually contradict 
it. This opinion cannot possibly save any one ; and 



254 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

if any who hold it are saved, it will be because they 
do not teach it to others, but hold it entirely to 
themselves, and, on the other hand, faithfully serve 
the Lord in the gospel of Christ until death. What, 
therefore, is an opinion worth, that, if advocated, 
brings death because it^ misleads others, causing 
them to rely upon a false opinion as well as them- 
selves? It is simply worth nothing in the world 
to any human being, as it cannot possibly save any 
one, and is in great danger of condemning all who 
embrace it. Those who espouse an opinion gen- 
erally make a hobby of it and ride it to their death. 
But these two assumptions are by no means all 
that are liable to endanger the eternal interests of 
men. Take creeds and confessions of faith, of 
which there are many, both written and unwritten, 
and all unauthorized. In all these creeds there are 
many things enjoined upon their adherents that are 
not found in the word of God, and, therefore, are 
things added to that word. They proceed upon the 
principle that the word of God is not sufficient for 
the government of the children of God, and that it 
is their right and their business to add, to ordain, 
what God has failed to furnish in his word. Take 
the Methodist Conferences as an example, of which 
they have five altogether, each differing from the 
others. These are the general, the annual, the dis- 
trict, the quarterly, and the church conferences. 
They are all held at different times and for differ- 
ent purposes. The specifications and directions as 
to the holding of these different conferences cover 
thirty pages in the "Discipline" of 1902, which is be- 
fore me. There is not one word of authority for 
any one of these conferences, either as to name or 



Unauthorized and Ruinous Opinions. 255 

work. So all these thirty pages make just that 
much added to the word of God. In some of these 
conferences there is much legislating done, not a 
particle of which is authorized in the word of God. 
In fact, human legislation is the foundation of all 
creeds and of all denominational churches, from 
popery on down. The larger the creed, and the 
more legislation they have, the more thoroughly 
human they are. 

The New Testament does not authorize human 
creeds nor denominational churches. These are all 
of human origin. Jesus built only one church, say: 
ing : " Upon this rock I will build my church." This 
church is called elsewhere " the chureh of God ; " 
and when referring to more congregations than one, 
we have " churches of Christ." (Rom. 16: 16.) 
The one church of God and of Christ includes all 
on earth that have obeyed the gospel far enough 
to become Christians and are living faithfully the 
Christian life. These also compose the one church 
of God on earth, make up the one body of Christ. 
Christ has but one body, his loyal and obedient peo- 
ple. If denominational churches want to be the 
church of God, let them drop their human creeds 
and human names and all human legislation, and go 
back to their beginning and bring up whatever they 
lack of having obeyed Christ to the present time, 
and then go on and continue to serve God as the 
New Testament directs ; then this much-desired end 
will be accomplished. 

But it is astonishing how much would have to 
go if all in the Methodist " Discipline " were laid 
aside that is not found in the oracles of God. The 
thirty pages we have mentioned are only a few of 



256 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

the things contained in that " Discipline," and made 
binding upon that church, that are not found in the 
word of God. The churches of God need none of 
these things, and they would get rid of an awful 
burden if they would throw them all away, and 
forever after and in all things live strictly as the 
word of the Lord requires. All the requirements 
made in the " Discipline" upon those people, that are 
not found in the word of God, make up that much 
that is added to the word of God. This will be a 
terrible load to carry to the judgment seat. Why 
not lay all such weights aside and cease to carry 
such extra burdens? 

Now, if these people, carrying all these extra 
things, can get to heaven, there is no mistake about 
those getting there that simply take the word of 
God for their guide, do what it says, abstain from 
what it forbids, trust God's promises, and keep all 
this up to the end of life. People that are thus 
careful have the advantage of every other class of 
people in the world ; for if it turns out that these 
humanisms are too weak to carry people to heaven, 
it will be awful for those who spend their lives try- 
ing to uphold them. But every one knows there 
is no danger to betide those that do the will of our 
Father in heaven, leaving out all human wisdom 
as service to God, either in the work or worship of 
the church. 

Then, again, there are those that claim to take the 
word of God as their only rule of faith and prac- 
tice, that build up humanly organized societies to 
sound' out the word, that organize endeavor soci- 
eties and ladies' aid societies to do other parts of 
the work of the church, till so many of the mem- 



Unauthorized and Ruinous Opinions. 257 

bers are absorbed in these different societies that 
there are scarcely any of the members that are do- 
ing anything simply and purely as Christians and in 
the name of Christ. Those that do not do the 
things God through Christ, said do, and because he 
said it, are not doing them in the name of Christ 
at all. They have taken matters out of his hands, 
and are doing things through and in the name of 
human societies, and not in the name of Christ, with 
no promise of getting a particle of credit for what 
they do from him, for they are not working by his 
authority. This society business is as purely hu- 
man as the tower of Babel was. 

Jeroboam and the ten tribes sacrificed and offered 
to God the same offerings that God ordered through 
Moses when they began their kingdom. But they 
offered to their golden calves, and not to God, be- 
cause it suited their purposes better. The whole 
thing was idolatry, because they offered them by 
their own wisdom instead of by God's .directions, 
so they could thereby accomplish their own ends, 
their own way. Those who build human societies 
through which to spread the gospel, instead of do- 
ing that in the Lord's way and simply as the Lord's 
people, worship an idol of their own devising as 
thoroughly as did the ten tribes when they wor- 
shiped the golden calves ordained by their own wis- 
dom. Anything put into the work or worship of 
the church that takes the place of something God 
ordained is as much the principle of idolatry as was 
that of the ten tribes, and is as much a rejection of 
God as their calf worship was, and is taking things 
into men's own hands as much as they did, by 
adopting their opinions in place of God's will. 
17 



258 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

Let these society brethren, therefore, lay these 
societies, these golden calves, aside, and do the work 
as Christians, as the church of God, and then he 
will accept it; they will then be doing all these 
things through God's ordinance, the church, and 
in the name of Christ, and they will be blessed. 
But these foolish and ignorant human inventions 
must be refused and the work done the Lord's 
way. Besides, these worldly-wise societies gender 
strifes, contentions, and divisions; so they are do- 
ing endless mischief, and there is but one remedy. 
These societies are really human creeds that, like 
all other creeds, will breed strife and division as 
long as they last, and will lie as an incubus upon 
those that build them up and run them. Christians 
are positively commanded to lay all such things 
aside, to refuse f hem ; and until they do it, they will 
be guilty before God. 

David could never have taken the ark to Jerusa- 
lem if he had not thrown away his new cart and 
had the Levites to carry it. Let those who are 
free from these new carts see to it that they never 
take hold of them, nor of their heavy and danger- 
ous responsibilities. There were no such things 
known in the days of the apostles, and the New 
Testament closed before any such things had ap- 
peared. Therefore, it is impossible to find one word 
of authority for these things. In fact, society peo- 
ple acknowledge there is no authority for them; 
they only claim them as a matter of religious lib- 
erty. Upon the principle that the tree is to be 
known by its fruits, the society is a bad tree, for 
there is scarcely any end to the divisions and strifes 
that have come up over it; and in many congrega- 



Unauthorized and Ruinous Opinions. 259 

tions where separation has not yet occurred, there 
is division of sentiment, contention, and sad trouble, 
and in these divisions are yet to come. 

All these troubles are over human opinions, fads, 
and inventions of men, all of which are bound to 
come to naught, and somebody will be sure to be 
hurt when the crash comes. Those who remain 
loyal to Christ in all things have nothing to fear 
in the outcome. The suffering will be on the side 
of the disloyal. So, brethren, let us continue loyal 
and faithful to the end, and all will be well. Those 
who do this have every assurance that the word and 
the promises of God can possibly give that they will 
be forever safe. While those who play with hu- 
man inventions may go down, those who remain 
firm in loyalty and faithfulness to Christ are certain 
to be gathered into the eternal home. 

This advantage will remain with the faithful and 
true followers of the Lamb regarding every human 
fad, error, or invention of human wisdom that ever 
has been, or ever will be, made. The plain truth of 
God's word always has been, and always will be, 
safe ground. Every error that religious people get 
up or fall into makes their eternal destiny more 
and more uncertain, while there is the most perfect 
safety to all who govern their lives by the word of 
truth. It is so strange that people will take up 
mere opinions not given in the word of God, or in- 
ventions on which the word of God is known to 
be silent, and push and run them with even greater 
zeal and earnestness than they do the things they 
know are plainly expressed and required. They 
think more of and about these mere matters of opin- 
ion than they do of the commands concerning broth- 



260 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

erly love, the Christian graces, or of the best mem- 
bers in the congregation, who chance to be op- 
posed to their untaught opinions. They get to 
thinking more of these inventions than they do of 
love to Christ or the church. Surely they have 
an unaccountable infatuation for these outside 
things. May the Lord deliver us all from such de- 
lusions. 



Woodland Street Christian Church. 261 



CHAPTER XX. 



Woodland Street Christian Church. 



It has been requested that, as I am putting some 
thoughts in book form to leave with those who may 
be interested in such things, some historical facts 
concerning the establishment of this church, its 
work, division, and its apostasy from the New Tes- 
tament order of things, should be given. 

On September 1, 1870, I moved, with my family, 
to 801 Boscobel Street, East Nashville, where some 
of us are living to this day, which is about thirty- 
eight years. This part of the city was then called 
" Edgefield/' and had a separate corporation, but 
has long since become a part of the city. There 
were then but few finished streets or sidewalks, no 
street lights generally, no water pipes, and, in fact, 
scarcely any city conveniences, but many incon- 
veniences. But it was a quiet, cheap place, and in 
many ways a pleasant place to live. We had 
cistern water, which is very hard to beat by any 
sort of water to be had anywhere. There was any 
amount of fine pasturage just across the street 
from us and round about us, and we could, with 
little expense, keep a cow and have plenty of milk 
and butter of our own, and could live in a com- 
fortable, and yet economical, way. We were on 
the very outskirts of the town when we moved here, 
and in many ways it was as pleasant as country life. 



262 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

But things have greatly changed in these nearly 
forty years we have lived here. The city has gone 
on far beyond us and left us up in town. We 
have now good streets and sidewalks, city water, 
gas, electric lights, street cars, a free bridge, and 
nearly all the conveniences of the average city. 
Then, also, as a result of a growing city, our pas- 
tures have been covered over with houses and yards 
and barns, and such things, and the city has ruled 
the cow an uncivilized creature, and has shut her 
out, unless owners keep her up all the time, or keep 
her in the hands of a shepherd, or herder. So, after 
losing a cow or two and having considerable trou- 
ble with the herding business, we decided to give 
up the cow as the least of the surrounding evils ; 
but we still hold our ground in the same spot. 

There was no congregation of disciples of Christ 
anywhere near us, and no special effort had ever 
been made to build up one in this part of the town. 
I have never been willing to attempt to rear a 
family without a congregation near, so they could 
always have a place where they could meet and 
worship on the first day of the week. There were 
a few members in this part of the town willing to 
undertake the work of building up a congregation. 
So in the first part of the year 1871 the Odd Fel- 
lows' Hall, an upstairs room, on Woodland Street, 
between Fourth and Fifth Streets, was rented, and 
we began meeting and worshiping there on the first 
day of every week, and started a Lord's-day school. 
We began this work in good earnest, determined to 
make a success of it if possible. There were only 
a few of us at the start, but we were in deep earnest. 
I had to be off preaching elsewhere most of the 



Woodland Street Christian Church. 263 

time, but generally arranged to spend one Lord's 
day in the month with our little congregation, and 
was more frequently there at prayer meetings. 
Brother D. C. Hall, one of our charter members, 
was a good singer, and could lead in the regular 
worship, prayer meetings, and the Lord's-day 
school, so that these could all go on regularly 
whether I was present or not. He was as regular 
as a clock in the work, was in earnest, and had 
the confidence of every one that knew him. 

The congregation gradually grew in numbers. 
Some members moved into our midst from time to 
time. Some were baptized occasionally from the 
Lord's-day school, protracted meetings were held 
frequently, and we were blessed with a regular and 
healthy growth. I never labored and prayed more 
earnestly for the success of Heaven's truth in tte 
upbuilding of a congregation than for this one. I 
had never given so much time and labor, Had never 
sacrificed so much in an effort to build up before, 
and seldom, if ever, saw a new congregation grow 
up more encouragingly than this. 

During all the early years of this work — in fact, 
for nearly a dozen years — no open or direct effort 
was made to work any change in the New Testa- 
ment order of things. I had never enjoyed any 
work in life more than I enjoyed this work, and 
had seldom been more strongly attached to any con- 
gregation. There were several considerations that 
made this work and sacrifice pleasant. One was 
an ardent desire for the conversion and salvation 
of souls, another was to have a church home con- 
venient for the family, while still another was to 
do my own duty faithfully in the Lord's work. All 



264 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

were continually encouraged and made happy by 
the continued good results. The brethren and sis- 
ters were faithful and worked with a will, and ev- 
erything went on smoothly and in harmony. No 
one wanted to introduce anything not authorized 
by the word of God, and these considerations light- 
ened every burden and made even sacrifices for 
truth's sake enjoyable. Everything then indicated 
that we would have a permanent and enjoyable re- 
ligious home, in which the word of God would be 
the only rule of faith and practice. 

These considerations always made me feel thank- 
ful when my turn came to be with the little band 
at home. Six years were very pleasantly spent 
without any financial support from this congrega- 
tion, except a few individual gifts and a large lot 
of encouragement and good will. Then for the next 
two years this congregation, assisted by one or two 
others, sustained me to spend a considerable part 
of the time in laboring with and strengthening some 
weak congregations in the county, which resulted 
In considerable good being accomplished. Thus, 
while we were seeking to build ourselves up, we 
were also helping to build others up. 

In the meantime, also, the brethren were trying 
to build a house of worship on Woodland Street, 
which they succeeded in doing by considerable as- 
sistance. Brother David Lipscomb, though not liv- 
ing among us and not meeting with us, except a 
few times when we first started, paid more than 
eleven hundred dollars toward it. So, by the end 
of eight years from the time we began meeting, 
the house was done and mostly paid for, and I was 
aided in doing outside work during the last two 



Woodland Street Christian Church. 265 

years of this time, though the church was at the 
same time finishing the payments on the house. 
These things done, the brethren insisted that I 
should give more time to preaching in the home 
congregation, which was agreed to. During four 
years, therefore, I preached from two-thirds to 
three-fourths of the time in this house, and was re- 
munerated reasonably well during all that time. 
The congregation continued to make gradual and 
healthy growth, and was, to all appearances, in 
peace and harmon}\ 

But during the latter part of this time it began to 
be apparent that there was something wrong some 
way, though not a word had been uttered that I 
heard of. But a degree of indifference was evident 
that had not before been manifested, and especially 
so on Lord's-day nights, when the audiences began 
to fall much below what they had been. I talked 
about the matter and urged a better attendance, but 
to no effect. It was plainly manifest that they 
were losing zeal or that there was some dissatisfac- 
tion on some account. But not a word was said, 
nor even a hint to me, as to the cause of the falling 
off in attendance. Finally a few of the brethren 
came to see me to talk about means of improving 
the defect. They seemed to have nothing to sug- 
gest for improvement, but very deeply deplored the 
condition of affairs. I had already thought of sug- 
gesting a change in the preaching, and told them 
I had been thinking of a change, as I had not been 
able to improve the condition of things. They took 
to the idea in a moment, and soon asked if I would 
make the announcement right away, as the year 
was drawing to a close. 



266 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

The whole thing was unexpected to me, and that 
night I scarcely slept any, thinking over the new 
phase of things, as it was to me then. They had 
been considering the society matter, but had not 
openly hinted the matter in any way to indicate 
that was what they meant. The whole things was 
enigmatical. But the announcement was made, 
and they were glad. They had become satisfied, 
from the way I preached and enforced the word 
of the Lord, that they could never run in a society 
with me as their preacher. Later developments 
showed that they were quietly working to get me 
out of the way, so they would have a better open- 
ing to work up a society. They wanted a preacher 
that favored that sort of work, and that would aid 
them in bringing about that sort of movement. So 
when it was announced that I would cease to be 
their preacher at the end of that year, which was 
1882, they began at once to find and secure a man 
to take the work. 

In a short while, W. J. Loos, of Kentucky, was 
secured for the place, and was on hand and began 
work early in 1883. I soon had work arranged for, 
and was generally out of the city on Lord's days, 
but was generally at the prayer meetings, except 
when in protracted meetings. This gave better op- 
portunities for them to arrange their plans toward 
building up a society. If I had left the city entirely 
when I quit preaching for them, it would have left 
them a clearer field ; but they worked and planned as 
best they could, anyway. After Loos had been in the 
work for some months, he went up to Cincinnati 
to a big society convention, heard them tell of their 
work in their enthusiastic way, till he came back 



Woodland Street Christian Church. 267 

to Woodland Street full of it. He told in glow- 
ing terms what they were doing up North, and that 
he felt ashamed that he was from Tennessee, where 
the churches were doing nothing. This has been 
the cry with them all the time, that the churches in 
this country are dead. 

When I came home and heard what had been 
said, I brought it up at the very next prayer meet- 
ing, showed that facts had been misrepresented, and 
showed up some of the work the churches of this 
country were doing, and how they were doing it, 
expecting to bring on a discussion with him; but, 
to my utter surprise, he made not one word of 
response. So the thing just passed off that way, 
and I did not hear of his saying any more 
on the subject publicly during his stay with the 
church here, a even supposed he had dropped the 
matter, and that he was not trying any further to 
build up society work here, and had even heard that 
one of the elders had advised him to say no more. 
But later on I found out my mistake. He was 
doing his very best all the time, but managed to 
keep it hidden from me. 

I have his own testimony to the truth of this 
later on, when the contest had become warmer. 
Some time after he had left here I published a 
statement in the Gospel Advocate to the effect that 
after the one time I have mentioned he had held 
his peace and had said no more about societies, and 
aimed the statement to be to his credit — that he did 
it for the sake of peace and harmony. Regarding 
this matter, we have the following from his own 
pen, over his own signature, in 1890: 



268 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

" Dear Brother Sewell : In the Gospel Advocate 
of February 19, in your article, ' Some Items of 
History,' you make some reference to my work 
while preaching for the Woodland Street Church, 
in Nashville. There is one item of your account 
which I desire to correct, if you will kindly allow 
me the opportunity. In the first place, if I remem- 
ber correctly, before attending the convention in 
Cincinnati, to which you refer, I preached upon the 
subject of foreign missions, took up a collection 
of nine dollars for the work, and put to the church 
a motion that it unite with the Church Street con- 

c 

gregation in inviting the next general convention 
to Nashville, provided such an invitation should be 
extended by the Church Street congregation. The 
motion carried without opposition. 

" I would also state that I have no recollection 
of any one of the elders, or any other member of 
the church, saying to me that it would not be best 
for me to speak of societies any more. I certainly 
did not act upon such a suggestion if it was made ; 
for all the time I was at Nashville I kept the mission 
work before the Woodland Street Church, took up 
several collections for foreign and home missions, 
and preached upon these matters morning, night, 
and prayer meetings, publicly and privately, deem- 
ing it my duty so to do. I am confident the mem- 
bers of the congregation will bear me out in these 
statements. I cheerfully bear testimony that you 
opposed all these efforts on my part. Your public 
utterances at prayer meetings and on other occa- 
sions and in the pulpit were clearly and distinctly 
in opposition to any cooperation of the Woodland 



"Woodland Street Christian Church. 269 

Street Church with our missionary societies or con- 
ventions. If you will kindly publish this in the Ad- 
vocate, you will greatly oblige. 

" Very truly your brother in Christ, 

" W. J. LOOS." 

This letter was published in the Advocate of 
March 5, 1890. It shows very clearly why the 
church was so anxious for a change of preachers, 
and at the same time shows why they selected a 
strong society man to take my place, and why they 
tried so hard to keep their movements hidden from 
me. They well knew I would oppose every step 
of that sort that should come to the surface. It also 
shows how unscrupulous Brother Loos was to come 
into a congregation that had been working for 
twelve years in peace and harmony and go to work 
deliberately and knowingly to drive a wedge to split 
the congregation, which he knew would be the re- 
sult if he succeeded with his society movement. 
Yet he was willing to do that for the sake of a 
mere human invention. He knew there was not a 
word in the Bible in favor of such societies. He 
knew that some of us had labored and sacrificed 
time and money for years and years to build up a 
congregation and to secure a neat, comfortable, and 
permanent house to worship in, and have it all paid 
for ; and yet, for the sake of human inventions, he 
was willing to go to work and help to do all that 
mischief. 

With some of the rest of us here it was very 
different. Our homes and our earthly interests 
were here, and we were working to build up some- 
thing for a lifetime and for future generations ; and, 



270 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

besides, we were building just as we read it in the 
New Testament, as given by the Holy Spirit, and 
he never made an effort to show that a single step 
of our work was unscriptural. Yet he worked day 
and night for three years or more, upsetting it all to 
make room for nothing but a human invention that 
works evil wherever it goes. Then, just as soon 
as his time was up here, he was off somewhere else, 
and was seen here no more, while the rest of us 
that remained here tried to get rid of the mischief 
done as best we could. 

A This sort of work was never ordained of God, 
and is utterly out of harmony with the Spirit of 
Christ and the whole of the New Testament. The 
foundation of this trouble was in the fact that there 
were some members that were from other States, 
who, doubtless, had been under society influence, 
had been with society preachers and learned to love 
their broad, worldly-wise ways, and had never be- 
come willing to familiarize themselves with the way 
things were done in this country. This was espe- 
cially true with the society part of the congregation. 
So we were encouraging and caring for some that 
were laying the foundation for the sad things that 
broke like a tornado upon us after a while. 

Congregations can never be too careful in guard- 
ing against all appearances of things that are evil. 
We had never had things of that sort to contend 
with before, and did not know how to guard against 
them ; nor had we ever been forced to contend with 
preachers so but of harmony with the word of God 
as some^we had to deal with in the history of this 
cHurcH. But these things thus far detailed were but 
the beginning of our sorrows. 



Woodland Street Christian, Church. 271 

Another thing that was a surprise to me was that 
half of the elders, whose business it was to be guard- 
ians of the flock, and to keep down factions and 
heresies and heretics, and all such like enemies to 
the truth, and protect the church from them, were 
among the very first to defend the society move- 
ment, Paul told the elders of the church at Eph- 
esus that they were the overseers of the church, and 
they must feed and care for the flock. He also told 
them that of themselves some would turn out to be 
perverse. 

There has been some discussion lately among the 
brethren as to the propriety of a restrictive clause 
in the deeds for ground for meetinghouses. Some 
contend that the very things you want to prevent 
ought to be expressed, such as missionary societies 
and instrumental music, and that all these should 
be prohibited. Others claim that nothing of the 
sort should be named in the deed, but that it would 
be sufficient to say that " nothing shall be used not 
authorized in the word of God," and that the elders 
should see to it that nothing shall come in not au- 
thorized. This sort of clause would not be worth 
the paper it was written on, unless the elders are 
truly reliable, godly men. We had four elders in 
Woodland Street Church, and they were about the 
best material we had at the time they were ap- 
pointed. But from the very incipiency of the so- 
ciety movement in that church, two of the elders 
were among its most ardent supporters. They not 
only did nothing to stop Loos from his divisive 
work, but helped him and encouraged him all the 
time, and stood by him in it. This shows at once 
how futile it would be to simply say nothing un- 



272 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

scriptural shall be used in the house, unless you 
could know the church owning and occupying the 
house would always have just the right sort of eld- 
ers, and this no church can ever know beforehand. 
Hence, that sort of clause counts nothing. To 
specify the objectionable things may not always 
prevent them, but the chances are at least ten to 
one that it will. One of our Woodland .Street 
elders, who knew more about the Bible than any 
other member in it, save one, perhaps, contended 
stoutly from the start for the society with unabated 
zeal. So, from my experience in this case, I am led 
to conclude the generality of elders are not much 
reliance in such cases. 

Of course we could not be much astonished at 
women wanting to run off with such things, when 
old, well-informed men rush into them. We are 
sure we never saw those two elders more deeply 
in earnest over any matter that ever came before 
them than they were over the society matter that 
caused so much trouble among us. And then, 
again, I suppose we need not be much surprised at 
elders going off that way, when preachers who have 
been preaching for years, as W. J. Loos, whose fa- 
ther was a preacher before him, should get so stirred 
up over the same thing in connection with the eld- 
ers as to work day and night, as he says he did, 
to help the elders and the sisters work up that hu- 
man invention. Surely humanity is frail and un- 
reliable. All can begin to see from these things 
the trouble we had to encounter in this society 
movement from the prominence of the persons lead- 
ing in the movement. It is astonishing how errors 
will run when they get started, and how many men 



Woodland Street Christian Church. 273 

in high places will fall into the rushing tide. If 
those elders had turned their energies and talents 
to enforce the word of the Lord just as the Holy 
Spirit gave it, instead of human opinions, what a 
grand work they would have done, and how dif- 
ferent the results would have been ! 

The leading elder frequently spoke of wanting 
" a man of culture," when they were considering the 
matter of employing a preacher. I could not real- 
ize what he meant by it, as we had in our State 
college graduates and men who understood well the 
common amenities of society and good behavior 
and general politeness, and all that ; and the ques- 
tion then was : What does he mean by " a man of 
culture?" I think I now understand it better. 
When a man becomes wedded to certain opinions, 
the greatest, the most cultured man, in his estima- 
tion, is the man that most readily agrees with him 
in his opinions, and who will help him in carrying 
them out. W. J. Loos filled the bill in this case. 
He did not use the Bible extensively, anyway. The 
most that some preachers need the Bible for is to 
furnish them plenty of texts to preach from. Then 
they can make up a sermon in the way of a moral 
lecture or talk, which, as a rule, does not conflict 
with any one's faith or opinions. His opinion fully 
accorded with that of the two elders and the lead- 
ing sisters, w r ho were prominent in the movement, 
and he was exceedingly careful not to present any- 
thing that could in any wise conflict with their mu- 
tual opinions. He did not use the Bible to deduce 
a practical system of service from it. The prac- 
tical work and worship of the church as the apos- 
tles gave therrr were not dwelt on much. In these 
18 



274 Gospel, Lessons and Life History. 

• 
matters I did not suit them. I tried always to obey 
the command, " Preach the word ; " and when any- 
thing began to crop out that in any way conflicted 
with the word of God, the very first opportunity *I 
had I would show the very passage violated. This 
was what led Brother Loos to think that I was so 
very busy in utilizing all opportunities to oppose 
any sort of cooperation by Woodland Street Church 
with the societies. In this he was not so very far 
wrong, except in the fact that I was not as con- 
stantly at it as he intimates, for they worked so 
thoroughly behind the curtain that it was only occa- 
sionally that I could get an opportunity. When- 
ever one was presented, I made it a point never to 
let it slip unused. These were only semioccasional, 
however. I never had but one square hit at Brother 
Loos while here, though he shows he was contin- 
ually at work for the society — and, it seemed, con- 
tinually working to hide the fact that he was striv- 
ing with might and main to do a work that broke 
up the peace and harmony of our congregation. 

If he had been working to build up something 
the word of God plainly requires, then God would 
have approved of his work, though we had all been 
against it; and if division had come, then it would 
have been our fault. But as he and the elders were 
working for something not only not required, but 
subversive of something the Lord really does re- 
quire, they were guilty of causing division, and that 
by pressing an untaught opinion. As much trouble 
as we had over the matter, I would a thousand times 
rather take the chances of those who firmly stood 
upon the word of truth and opposed the innova- 



Woodland Street Christian Church. 275 

tions than the chances of those that forced in the 
human opinions. However much they may have 
thought they were doing right, they were not doing 
what the word of the Lord says do. 



276 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 



CHAPTER XXL 

More About the Preachers and the Division of 
Woodland Street Church. 



When W. J. Loos left Woodland Street Church, 
the next preacher was R. M. Giddens. He, like 
Loos, was an entire stranger when he came. He 
was not personally known by any of the church, 
and he did not know any of us. He had no per- 
sonal interests to bind him here for a single day 
beyond the expiration of his time of service. As a 
preacher, he was not one of the best ; but in some 
ways he was an affable, pleasant sort of man. 

Any congregation runs a great risk for its future 
to employ an entire stranger and give the running 
of its spiritual interests into his hands. As one 
item of his qualification, Giddens was a full and 
radical believer in missionary societies. As another 
qualification, he was exceedingly careful never to 
preach upon any passages of scripture that could 
be construed against societies. In fact, he did 
not use the Scriptures much, as he did not need 
them to prove opinions. I was absent when he 
was engaged, and, of course,- had nothing to say 
either for or against it. Even if I had been there, 
I knew nothing about him, anyway. Besides, I 
had to leave it with the rest of the elders to employ 
a preacher, as I was nearly all of my time absent 
or very busy in other work. There was one of 



More About Woodland Street Church. 277 

those elders that could have surpassed Giddens any 
day he was there as a Bible teacher; but they 
wanted him for this one end of building up a so- 
ciety. That one idea prevailed, and he remained 
there quite a while. 

As an illustration of the work of the preacher and 
the elders, we give the following from Brother Lips- 
comb, in the Gospel Advocate of 1890, page 119: 

" In our notice of Brother Myhr's proposed work, 
the word ' not ' got in where it did not belong. 
We aimed to say the other elders employed Brother 
Myhr, ' concealing it from Brother Sewell.' The 
word ' not ' getting in made us say just the oppo- 
site of what we aimed to say. They concealed the 
action, as Brother Giddens said, purposely from 
Brother Sewell, as they did from every member of 
the church that is not in favor of the societies. Yet 
they have protested all the time that they were not 
aiming to form a society. They claim it as a church 
work, yet it was never considered by the elders and 
deacons in a meeting, and no minute of the agree- 
ment and purpose was ever entered in the church 
record. It was never laid before the church. The 
secretary of the church was kept in ignorance of 
the action taken. So it is not an action of the elder- 
ship. Brother Sewell was chosen in conjunction 
with the other three elders and the deacons to guide 
the affairs of the church. No one of these elders 
would think to treat a business associate as they 
treated Brother Sewell. Such treatment would not 
be tolerated among gentlemen of the world. It is 
a matter of deep regret that elders of the church 
should so treat one another, especially one who had 
built up this church. After writing the above, 



278 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

Brother Giddens wishes it said that he failed to con- 
sult Brother Sewell about the employing of Brother 
Myhr because he had refused to indorse his first 
work. 

" It is the right of every member of a congregation 
to know and to be heard in every work undertaken 
by that congregation. The elders are not to rule by 
arbitrary authority, as lords over God's heritage; 
but in all matters it is their duty to let every act 
of the congregation be known to all and to satisfy 
every one of the Tightness of the proposed action, 
and to hear every man's objections and seek to re- 
move them, and so lead them as ensamples to the 
flock, so that all may be united in one mind and 
one judgment, and may as one body all work har- 
moniously and heartily to the same end. 

" This is no exceptional case of their treatment of 
Brother Sewell. When he was preaching for them, 
this same faction complained and found fault with 
him until he gave up the work. The ground of the 
fault-finding was not at his preaching, not on ac- 
count of his inability as a teacher of the gospel or 
his lack of speaking ability. No one could claim 
either of those who followed him to be his equal 
in either respect. The objection was that he did not 
go into these progressive ways. The only distinct 
charge made against him, that I recollect, was that 
he persisted in calling the house in which they wor- 
shiped the ' meetinghouse ' instead of the ' church.' 
It was proscription, simply and only because he 
proposed to stand to the Bible. 

" They have pursued the same course toward oth- 
ers. Brother McQuiddy has never been asked to 
preach, seldom to take the slightest part in the wor- 



More About Woodland Street Church. 279 

ship. Recently it was proposed to put Brother Mc- 
Quiddy into the eldership. It was objected to, 
they said, not because of any fault of character. 
He was not in favor of the societies explains the 
trouble. Some say now that he is not old enough. 
He is old enough to have done a hundredfold more 
for the church than the whole eldership combined, 
leaving out Brother Sewell. Experience and devo- 
tion to the cause of God are the qualities needed. 
It is simply a war upon those who propose to stand 
by the Bible and the integrity of the churches as 
God gave them. The work as inaugurated involves 
all the vicious elements of the society, without even 
its redeeming features. We understand that there 
was no money raised by the festivals which went 
into this fund. We were careful not to say there 
was, because we did not know. But these self- 
elected directors of the funds and preachers of the 
State held, or sanctioned the holding of, festivals to 
raise money for religious purposes. We mentioned 
it because it is our duty to let the brethren know the 
religious character of those who ask so great a trust 
at their hands." 

While Brother Lipscomb was not with us, he 
knew how things were going at that time in Wood- 
land Street Church, knew what a one-sided proce- 
dure the whole thing was, and was always Veady to 
defend the truth. I have never felt that anything 
I ever met in life was a greater departure from the 
church of the New Testament and its practice than 
the State Missionary Society built up by the Wood- 
land Street Church and its preachers. As an illus- 
tration of the kind of arguments I used against 
such innovations as missionary societies, I insert 



280 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

the following from the Gospel Advocate of 1889, 
page 295, under the heading, " More on the Lord's 
Plan : " 

" First, we have shown in preceding articles that 
at the very beginning of the fully established state 
of the church of God a system of finances was es- 
tablished by the teaching of the apostles under the 
guidance of the Spirit of God. When the three 
thousand were added, they continued ' in the apos- 
tles' teaching/ as the word of the Lord puts it. As 
one item of their continuance in the teaching, they 
contributed freely of their means to supply the 
needs of all the disciples. We showed, further, that' 
the congregation at Antioch, the one at Corinth, and 
those of Macedonia and Galatia, all of them — and 
that, too, by the teaching of the apostles — practiced 
the same way. They were taught to contribute on 
the first day of the week as they were prospered, 
and in this way, as churches, they assisted the poor 
and sustained preachers. This presents a financial 
system which is ample for all purposes of the 
church of God, and is divine. The question, there- 
fore, that remains is : Shall we practice what the 
Lord has ordained, or shall we reject him in these 
matters, and set up for ourselves, and act upon hu- 
man wisdom rather than divine wisdom? 

" Societies are all human, as everybody knows. 
Brother Giddens has settled this question by saying 
that the Lord has not revealed any plan for spread- 
ing the gospel. If this be true, then it is certain 
that the Lord never ordained the societies. Shall 
we, therefore, turn away from what God has or- 
dained, and which is plainly expressed in the word 
of God, and take up a human invention and practice 



More About Woodland Street Church. 281 

upon that? Brother Giddens knows, and has al- 
ready acknowledged, that in urging the members 
of the congregation to which he is preaching to 
work in the society and through socfeties, he is 
urging them to work in and through human ap- 
pointments. He knows, moreover, that in urging 
and pushing societies and society work of human 
origin, he is pushing something about which the 
brethren are divided in- sentiment, and that dis- 
cord and unpleasant feelings are engendered there- 
by ; and,, moreover, he knows that all can work on 
the plan the Lord presents in the New Testament, 
and which we have plainly pointed out as given in 
the word of the Lord, without any compunctions of 
conscience whatever. And since all, therefore, can 
work in harmony in this way, and whereas harmony 
is impossible on any humanly devised plan, then, in 
reason's name, why not practice upon the plan we 
read in the New Testament? Are men wiser than 
God, that they can devise a better plan than he? 
There is no excuse for men to set aside the Lord's 
plan and devise one of their own, unless it can be 
shown that men can devise a better one than God 
has, and, also, that God will accept it at their hands 
in place of his own appointment. When men by 
their wisdom do invent something that, in their 
judgment, is wiser and better than that which the 
Lord has ordained, then what assurance can they 
have that the Lord will accept either it or them ? 

" Nadab and Abihu, no doubt, thought they had 
found a wiser and better way than the Lord had 
ordained when they offered strange fire in burning 
their incense. But the Lord refused and destroyed 
both it and them. The result, therefore, in that 



282 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

case, of rejecting what the Lord appointed and intro- 
ducing one of their own, was fearful in the extreme. 
What evidence have men that the same sort of thing 
will result any better now? When David at- 
tempted to carry the ark of God on a new cart, he 
thought he was doing a good thing. (See 2 Sam. 6.) 
But he made a complete failure, and one of his lead- 
ing men lost his life in the effort, and the ark was 
left at the house of Obed-edom on the way. 

" He then studied and found out the Lord had 
ordained the manner of carrying the ark, and that 
he had ordained a plan of his own. So the next 
time he attempted to carry it he took the Lord's plan 
for it. He found that the Lord appointed that the 
Levites should bear it upon their shoulders. Hence, 
the next time he said : ' None ought to carry the ark 
of God but the Levites : for them hath the Lord 
chosen to carry the ark of God, and to minister unto 
him forever/ (1 Chron. 15: 2.) He now starts out 
to follow the Lord's plan instead of his own. He, 
therefore, called up the priests and Levites, ' and 
said unto them, Ye are the chief of the fathers of 
the Levites : sanctify yourselves, both ye and your 
brethren, that ye may bring up the ark of the Lord 
God of Israel unto the place that I have prepared 
for it. For because ye did it not at the first, the 
Lord our God made a breach upon us, for that we 
sought him not after the due order.' (1 Chron. 
15: 12, 13.) 

"David had found out he had been acting upon 
his own wisdom, and that that was the cause of 
his failure. He found out that the Lord had made 
a breach upon them because they sought him not 
after the due order, not as the Lord appointed, 



More About Woodland Street Church. 283 

and he had the humility and magnanimity O- soul 
to confess his mistake, and then set out with all 
the earnestness of his soul to do as the Lord had 
said ; and this time they went into the city in 
triumph, without let or hindrance, with the ark 
upon the shoulders of the Levites, just as God or- 
dained that it should be done. The trouble in the 
outset with David was, not that his desire was not 
good to serve the Lord, but that he went at it his 
own way instead of doing it as the Lord had or- 
dained. 

" The Lord had_ in plain words expressed now 
the ark should be carried from one place to an- 
other. Hence, in 1 Chron. 15: 15, we have: 'And 
the children of the Levites bare the ark of God upon 
their shoulders with the staves thereon, as Moses 
commanded according to the word of the Lord.' 
Read Num. 4, and there you will find the law laid 
down. If God had commanded them to move the 
ark from one place to another, and had not told 
them how to do it, then David could have chosen 
his own way of moving it. His new cart would 
then have been in place. But as God had plainly 
told the Jewish people through Moses how the ark 
should be borne, it was rebellion for David to set 
that aside and take his new cart ; and for this very 
reason he said the Lord made a breach upon them. 

" Now we have shown in the very language of the 
Lord's word in the New Testament that the Lord 
has given a financial system, and that the congre- 
gations of apostolic times acted upon it, used it, 
both in relieving the poor, the needy, and in sus- 
taining preachers. This being true, every man that 
turns away from this plan as revealed in the New 



284 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

Testament and takes a human plan, as a mission- 
ary society, does precisely the same sort of thing 
that David did when, instead of having the Levites 
to bear the ark upon their shoulders, he undertook 
to carry it upon a new cart of his own devising. 
To bear the ark upon a new cart was a human in- 
vention ; to bear it upon the shoulders of the Le- 
vites was the Lord's plan. God rejected the hu- 
man, but accepted the divine one. Even so has 
the Lord ordained that congregations shall con- 
tribute of their means on the first day of the week 
as they are prospered. With the means thus raised 
by the congregations the poor were fed and preach- 
ers sustained, both at home and abroad. When 
churches do that way now, they are doing just as 
the Lord devised and expressed in his word. 

" When they refuse that, and work through a so- 
ciety which is of human wisdom, they as certainly 
make a new cart as David did, and as certainly dis- 
honor God thereby as did David. Therefore, every 
time Brother Giddens advises and urges his breth- 
ren to work through tfiese human societies instead 
of working simply as a congregation, as the Lord 
has ordained, he is working away on a new cart, just 
as David 'did; and just as David led his people 
astray and brought trouble upon them, so Brother 
Giddens is leading his people astray and bringing 
them into trouble. 

"Very few things are more dangerous or more 
thoroughly denounced in the word of God than to 
set aside the appointments of God and substitute 
human wisdom in their place. The man that does 
it is guilty of two great wrongs. One is putting 
man's wisdom in place of God's, and the other is in 



More About Woodland Street Chinch. 285 

causing divisions and discord among brethren by 
pushing an invention of men into the place of the 
Lord's appointments as a means of doing the Lord's 
work. It is impossible for all to agree upon a hu- 
man appointment ; but all can agree upon what the 
Lord has ordained and plainly expressed in his 
word. Peace and harmony among brethren are 
worth more than all the human inventions the world 
ever saw. No congregation can prosper without it. 
The success of the restoration movement from the 
beginning has been largely due to the fact that, un- 
til of late years, all were a unit upon the claim that 
the word of God is an all-sufficient guide in all mat- 
ters of faith and practice, and all acted upon it ; 
and so long as this was their guiding star, they 
were invincible, and error fell before them on every 
hand; while truth triumphed most astonishingly, 
and peace and harmony reigned on every hand. O, 
for a return to those good old ways ! " 

Much of this, in substance, was also preached 
in the Woodland Street Church while the conflict 
was on, as opportunity afforded, as well as in the 
Advocate, but was never replied to, either by eld- 
ers or preacher. 

As another item showing how the State society 
originated, we insert the following from A. I. Myhr, 
in the Tennessee Missionary, June, 1906, pages 13 
to 15: 

"After a meeting held by the writer in Woodland 
Street Church, Nashville/in October, 1887, by the 
advice and cooperation of R. M. Giddens, some of 
the sisters organized a Home Mission Band. The 
spirit of missions was thus developed. These 
women saw the need for aggressive effort in preach- 



286 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

ing the gospel to the unsaved in Tennessee. They 
determined to invite others to help them, and, there- 
fore, addressed a half hundred letters to the elders 
of as many congregations These letters stated the 
purpose of the effort, and asked for help to put an 
evangelist in the field. 

" The only response was from the ladies of the 
Christian Church in Chattanooga. Two years were 
spent in working, praying, and planning. These 
women believed there was a brighter day coming 
for the Christian Church in Tennessee. In October, 
1889, they invited the writer to spend a month 
among the churches, presenting the purpose and 
plan of missions. This he did, and reported : ' There 
is a great opportunity for work in Tennessee, and 
the churches will contribute for missions $2,500 to 
$3,000 annually.' . . . 

" With the beginning of the year 1890 the sisters 
asked the elders of Woodland Street Christian 
Church to take, charge of the work. Brothers Hall, 
Farrar, and Corbin accepted the trust, and called A. 
I. Myhr, of Missouri, to act as State evangelist. He 
accepted, and began the work on February 1, 1890." 

This extract shows very clearly the origin of the 
society in Tennessee, and by whom it was started. 
Giddens and the elders encouraged these sisters all 
the time in the work they were engaged in, in build- 
ing up the society. Although they were assuming 
prerogatives the Lord never placed in the hands of 
women, yet we are satisfied Giddens and the eld- 
ers encouraged them in it from the start. This is 
something wholly unheard of in the New Testa- 
ment.. In not one single church of the New Testa- 
ment did even the elders propose to take charge of 



More About Woodland Street Church. 287 

other churches or their money ; and yet these 
women attempted it, actually writing to the elders 
of fifty churches, asking them to send money to the 
president of their society, or band, for the purpose 
of sending out an evangelist. This is another step 
that was taken without the knowledge of those 
they knew were opposed to their society. We 
never dreamed of such a thing till brethren began 
to write letters to the editors of the Advocate, in- 
quiring what it meant and who those women were. 
The three elders, says Myhr, received the work at 
the hands of the women, and took charge of it. 

We give these things that the reader may see the 
origin of the State work that has already caused, 
and is still causing, so much trouble, and is making 
so many hearts ache. It would be impossible for 
me to tell how r many sad moments I spent, or how 
many perplexing enigmas I was called upon to solve, 
during those weary years. 

Could we have seen and realized the movement 
then as we have seen it since, matters would have 
been brought to a head much sooner than they were. 
I do not mean that we would have stopped these 
people from their purpose or would have prevented 
their building a society. When people set their 
heads to go wrong, God lets them go. So they 
would likely have gone on and built a society, but 
we might have caused them to seek quarters else- 
where than in the house that was built for other 
purposes ; for several of us had given liberally of 
our means toward the house who would not have 
given anything had we known how it was to be 
used. Brother Lipscomb and I had given nearly 
fifteen hundred dollars on the house, while others 



288 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

had given considerable that they would not have 
given if they had known it would be used as it has 
been for nearly twenty years, without a cent ever 
being refunded. We had never seen a society of that 
sort built up, and had no conception of the steps peo- 
ple will take, or how they will impose upon others, 
or how unscrupulous they will be to accomplish an 
end. Then, to think that all this trouble should be 
raised to build up a human invention, something 

mot found in the word of God. The end of such 
work is to drive out all that oppose them and cause 
a great many unsuspecting ones to go into the 
wrong who w T ould not have done so if it had not 
been almost forced upon them. Leading the unsus- 
pecting into sin is awful. 

In this chapter, also, we want to enlarge a little 
on Myhr's statement that the sisters asked him to 
spend a month traveling among the churches to 

, raise money to preach the gospel among the desti- 
tute. It is also a fact that for some time the sis- 
ters had been raising money, claiming it was in- 
tended by them to preach the gospel to the desti- 
tute — that the churches in Tennessee were dead, 
and that the people were dying all around without 
the bread of life. So, at the time they employed 
A. I. Myhr, they must have had enough money to 
hold at least two or three protracted meetings at 
the rate protracted meetings were generally paid 
for in those days. They paid Myhr for that work 
a hundred and twenty-five dollars a month and trav- 
eling expenses, so we understood. So, instead of 
using the money they raised to preach the gospel 
to destitute people, they used it to raise more money 
to preach more gospel to more destitute people ! 



More About Woodland Street Church. 289 

Myhr also says of this society: "To preach the 
gospel in the many destitute fields in Tennessee was, 
and is, the supreme aim of this . work." If that 
really was the supreme purpose, why did they not 
hold a few meetings while they had money in hand 
to do it ? He reported a good round sum of money 
could be forthcoming among the churches for this 
grand purpose ; but still no meetings were held in 
destitute places by this society in this country then, 
nor have there been such held to this day, so far as 
I have been able to learn. I was satisfied then, and 
am still satisfied, that if there were no scriptural 
wrongs in having such societies, they are a dead 
weight upon the churches and a positive hindrance 
to the spread of the glorious gospel of Christ in this 
or any other country. 

This of itself would be reason enough to oppose 
them. But the hardest work a man ever attempted 
to do is when the thing he is trying to oppose is 
hidden from him and he does not know just where 
to direct his efforts. When men will show their 
errors so you can see them full size, you can see 
then what scriptures are violated by them, and can 
tell what passages you need to use, and in what 
form to put them. But when you have an enemy 
that poses as a friend, while in reality he is tearing 
down your hard labor for many toilsome years, you 
are in a very disagreeable tangle. This was just 
my trouble for a long time at Woodland Street 
Church; for they positively denied having any in- 
tention of building a society till some time after the 
Chattanooga Convention in 1890, still saying that 
it was a State work, not a society. 
19 



290 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 



CHAPTER XXII. 



Closing Chapter on Woodland Street Church. 



This history must of necessity be brief, for want 
of space to make a full presentation of things. But 
we will now give some further items regarding &. 
M. Giddens, A. I. Myhr, and the elders. 

Myhr was never here till after Giddens had made 
arrangements for him to hold a meeting at Wood- 
land Street Church. We heard him several times 
in that meeting, but did not hear him say anything 
about societies, nor anything else of a divisive na- 
ture. Had he done nothing more than was in his 
preaching in that meeting, there would have been 
no trouble over it. But they do not do their work 
by public preaching; the mischief is always done 
in private, where they can lay their plans, train 
their forces, and get things ready for development, 
ready to put the machinery into operation, before 
the opposition can see how to throw obstacles in 
the way. They knew all their efforts would be de- 
feated if they were to openly make known their 
purpose from the start. Hence, we did not hear 
Giddens say anything publicly in favor of the soci- 
ety till they were almost ready to start it. This is 
the way people generally do when they want to 
start something that will be warmly opposed. The 
first decisive public statement they made of the 
matter was when they announced the Chattanooga 



Woodland Street Church, Again. 291 

Convention. Up to this time they kept their plans 
to themselves ; but that they were constantly at 
work consulting, planning, and working toward 
that one end, future developments fully demon- 
strated, and their success in their efforts was fully 
manifested when that convention launched the so- 
ciety. 

It was while these plans were thus maturing 
that we had our dark days of suspense and trial, 
not knowing what was coming, except as their 
movements cast their shadows before them. All 
the while, however, the conflicts were growing more 
frequent and more intensely earnest and pointed. 
R. M. Giddens, the elders, and the society members 
were more active, and gradually became more ag- 
gressive, while the opposition was equally wide- 
awake and quite as deeply in earnest. When we 
made complaint about the writing of those letters 
by the sisters to the elders of churches elsewhere, 
one of the elders said to me : " You had better be 
careful how you interfere with those women in their 
mission ; they are doing a grand work." This in- 
dicated to me that these elders had prompted and 
encouraged the women, and were themselves in it. 
He showed earnestness in the manner in which he 
said it, and showed that he felt his efforts were be- 
ing interfered with. I had never before known 
women in the churches of Christ to assume any 
such prerogatives, and knew that the whole thing 
was contrary to the word of God.' 

At another time, in a business meeting, when 
Brother Giddens was introducing something which 
I did not believe in and against which I was throw- 
ing objections, the other one of the two elders who 



292 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

were especially helping the women, in order to 
stop the discussion, said : " Brother Hall, read Ps. 
133." And I said: "All right, read it." We here 
give the first verse of it : " Behold, how good and 
how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in 
unity ! " 

When the reading was ended, I said : " Yes, that 
is all very nice ; and you very well know we have 
dwelt together in unity from the very beginning 
of this congregation until now, and you also know 
that it is the effort to introduce something into the 
congregation that never was in it before, that is 
causing the disturbance now ; and you know, more- 
over, that the something you all are trying to in- 
troduce is not found in the Bible, and that is the 
foundation of the whole trouble. So now cease to 
push this matter, and the trouble will cease at once." 

This brought silence. He knew that what I had 
said was true, and saw very plainly that if he would 
put a stop to the untaught society matter, we could 
be in unity again. So he said no more about it. 
He was not yet ready to own that they were work- 
ing for a society, and knew that further discus- 
sion of the matter would develop that fact. So he 
preferred silence. These were the sort of difficul- 
ties we had to labor under. If they had come right 
out and said, " Yes, we intend to put in a society 
here," we would have known what we had to meet ; 
but we had to work in the dark, not knowing what 
was to come next", To have such trials and trou- 
bles with people we had learned to. love so well was 
no small matter. But I was determined not to al- 
low anything to hinder me from opposing any un- 
scriptural move that might be made. 



Woodland Street Church, Again. 293 

As they made it more and more apparent that 
they meant to put in a society, our little conten- 
tions became more lively, and they were more and 
more annoyed by the frequent demands for Bible 
authority, when they knew they had none to give. 
Frequently did I say to Brother Giddens : " You 
know the Bible does not require any such societies, 
and that this congregation was built up in peace 
without them, but cannot have peace with them. 
Why, then, do you wish to thrust one in at the ex- 
pense of peace and harmony?" But he never at- 
tempted one time to prove they were right by the 
word of God. 

Frequently he would say the churches in Ten- 
nessee were dead, were doing nothing. But I 
said : " There are churches all over this country, and 
no society. How, then, came these churches into 
existence ? You know societies did not build them, 
for there were none here. Whence came they, 
then?" To such questions he never attempted to 
reply. Once, when he said that churches in Ten- 
nessee were all dead, were doing nothing, I said : 
" Here is Woodland Street Church, with a lot of 
earnest members, and they are paying you twelve 
hundred dollars a year. Is it dead, and yet doing all 
this work? And if there is nothing doing here, how 
came this church and others into existence?" Yet 
he went right on with his objectionable work of 
trying to get up a society, and nothing could stop 
him. Just think of a man exerting all his powers 
to divide the very church that was sustaining him ! 
Some of us were six years or more building it up 
by voluntary work, but he was getting twelve 
hundred dollars a year to tear it down. 



294 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

In the fall of 1889, when Brother Myhr was to 
start out among the churches to stir up an interest 
in missions and to raise money to preach the gos- 
pel to the destitute, he and Giddens went round 
among the elders to get them to sign a letter of 
commendation for Myhr to the churches. They 
came to me last, having secured the signatures of 
all the elders, except me. I told them that their 
movement looked very much like an effort to build 
up a society. They said : " No, we are not going 
to build up a society ; we only want to get up money 
to preach the gospel in destitute places." I said : 
" It looks too much like a society for me to sign 
your letter. I cannot- afford to put my name to 
anything that looks as much like a society move- 
ment as that." There seemed to be no end to the 
trials and the troubles we had in trying to oppose 
an innovation that was gradually creeping upon us. 

Further, when they had forced in their society 
in their convention in Chattanooga, of which the 
three elders and Giddens and Myhr had charge, 
I wrote a petition to the elders and Giddens, set- 
ting forth that the church had been built up and 
run in harmony without any society, and could still 
run in harmony without one, but could not run in 
harmony with it ; that they knew nothing of the 
sort could be found in the New Testament. I 
added, also, this earnest request : " Will you not, 
therefore, for the sake of peace and harmony, lay 
aside this State work?" This petition, with more 
than forty names of the members to it, was sent to 
these elders and their preacher for their action. 
They soon sent back the reply that they could not 
lay aside the State work, thus showing very clearly 



Woodland Street Church, Again. 295 

that they thought, more of the society than they did 
of the members that opposed it. 

Paul says : " But if any man hath not the Spirit 
of Christ, he is none of his." (Rom. 8: 9.) People 
that are actuated by the Spirit of Christ cannot, 
and will not, do such things. Paul says, again : 
"And whatsoever ye do, in word or in deed, do all 
in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God 
the Father through him." (Col. 3 : 17.) To do 
anything in the name of Christ is to do it by his 
authority, and to do it by his authority is to do it 
by his word. Whatever, therefore, the word of 
God requires to be done can be done in the name 
of Christ. The word of God does not authorize 
State work by a missionary society; hence, Chris- 
tians cannot build up and operate one in the name 
of Christ, nor can they operate such a thing in the 
spirit of Christ. Christ, therefore, has nothing to 
do with anything that can neither be done by his 
authority nor in his spirit. 

People that act thus also prove plainly that they 
do not love Christ ; for Jesus himself says : " If a 
man love me, he will keep my word." (John 14: 
23.) If such men loved Christ, they would love 
his word, and would obey it, and would never allow 
anything of human wisdom to displace the word of 
God, nor would they allow anything unauthorized 
by the word of the Lord to enter in and divide the 
church, and engender strife, confusion, and aliena- 
tion of hearts among brethren. Hence, those eld- 
ers and those preachers that forced an innovation 
of human wisdom upon the church and divided it 
proved that they did not have scriptural love for 
Christ ; neither had they scriptural love for the 



296 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

brethren. John says : " He that saith he is in the 
light and hateth his brother, is in the darkness even 
until now. He that loveth his brother abideth in 
the light, and there is no occasion of stumbling in 
him. But he that hateth his brother is in the dark- 
ness, and walketh in the darkness, and knoweth 
not whither he goeth, because the darkness hath 
blinded his eyes." (1 John 2: 9-11.) Then, he 
that loves his brother abides in the light. In other 
words, he abides in the word of the Lord, which im- 
parts light, is itself light. And upon the principle 
that " love works no ill to his neighbor/' the man 
that loves his brother cannot, and will not, delib- 
erately run worldly institutions into the church, 
and thereby drive him out ; for when they force 
these things into the church, they force all to be 
parties to the innovation or to get out. Therefore, 
those that do these things are in darkness, and walk 
in darkness — that is, they are in error, and walk in 
error, in the ways of the world. 

No man that knows the truth and loves the truth 
can be content to remain where the truth is trampled 
upon. If he does, he is encouraging the error, and 
is himself a partaker of their sins. We gave them 
every chance possible to treat us as the gospel re- 
quires, but all to no effect. They showed in every 
way that they loved their man-made society more 
than their brethren and sisters that opposed them. 
So there was nothing left us but to walk out, or 
stay there and violate our conscientious convictions 
of truth and duty. So several of us ceased to meet 
with them any more, or to recognize them as in 
any way entitled to the appellation, " a church of 
Christ." 



Woodland Street Church, Again. 297 

So here was a separation. But what sort of a 
separation was it? Was it really a division of the 
church, so that the part of it which went away and 
the part of it that remained each constituted a part 
of the church? Moses, by one violation of the 
word of God, caused himself to be shut out of the 
promised land. These people sinned against God 
by adopting a human invention to displace and take, 
the place of the church, to do a work God intended 
the church to do. They sinned against their breth- 
ren in thus driving them from their midst by in- 
troducing a human innovation into the church and 
making it so their brethren could not remain among 
them without encouraging the wrong. With these 
facts before us, it is hard to conclude that they can 
remain a church of Christ and still carry these er- 
rors. So we think it not too much to conclude that 
the church went out and a faction remained. That 
they were factional, there cannot be a doubt. They 
became heretics by introducing into the church a 
society unknown to the oracles of God and caus- 
ing division. Jesus also says: "Every branch in 
me that beareth not fruit, he taketh it away." This 
means every one that does not bear the fruit the 
word of God requires. It is self-evident that these 
people were not bearing the fruit required in the 
word of God when they drove out their brethren 
by forcing untaught things upon them. I do not, 
therefore, see how, from any standpoint, we can re- 
gard such as a church of Christ. At all events, I 
would not drive out good brethren by pushing hu- 
man inventions into the church for the wealth of 
the whole world. There are, doubtless, very many 
factional bodies of people on earth that are posing 



2gS Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

as churches of Christ and demanding all the con- 
siderations that are due genuine New Testament 
churches. If we could have recognized that those 
people were a church of Christ in what they were 
doing, we certainly would not have stepped out and 
left them. 

Another fact that shows the troubles R. M. Gid- 
dens had on account of some of the older members 
of the church, who were in his way, cropped out 
in one of his sermons in the closing part of the con- 
flict over the society, and that settled matters at 
once with some of the members, for they quit at- 
tending from the deliverance of that sermon. His 
text on that occasion was : " Verily, verily, I say 
unto you, Except a grain of wheat fall into the 
earth and die, it abideth by itself alone ; but if it die, 
it beareth much fruit." (John 12: 24.) He dwelt 
but little on the figure of the grain of wheat that 
is sown and dies in reproduction, multiplying itself 
many times thereby. But he seemed to be dis- 
turbed over the idea of old people becoming fossil- 
ized, who not only do not advance any themselves, 
but are in the way of others ; saying, if such would 
die and go home to glory, it would be a great bless- 
ing. That was before Osier said that a man that 
lived to be sixty ought to be chloroformed, and, 
therefore, he was not quoting from him. 

One of the saddest things in the whole matter is 
the mental and heart disturbance that such a thing 
causes among the members. Those that oppose 
such things are misrepresented and slandered ; they 
are provoked, grieved, perplexed, and tempted to 
say and do things they ought not, and especially 
in an improper spirit and temper. They realize 



Woodland Street Church, Again. 299 

that it is their- duty to defend the truth and help 
to defend other brethren who love the truth and 
want to remain with the truth. And when you have 
worked hard for many long years to aid in build- 
ing up a congregation as the word of God directs, 
it is hard to see strangers undermining and de- 
stroying the work of years, and breaking up the 
religious home you had hoped to have for your fam- 
ily for life ; and to know at the same time that there 
is not a shadow of authority in the word of God 
for what these men are trying to put in. For breth- 
ren and sisters in whom you have had such confi- 
dence to help tear down the principles you had 
so long labored and prayed to build up, is a thing 
upon which no man can look but with feelings of 
sadness. We could hardly imagine a greater ca- 
lamity to befall any one ; yet this is the ordeal that 
a number of us had to pass through. 

But we passed through without allowing our 
faith to be in the least shaken in the word of God. 
We must admit, however, that our faith in human- 
ity went down several degrees when we saw peo- 
ple whom we had thought incapable of such things 
rush with such recklessness into such a work of 
division, with such disregard for their brethren and 
sisters in Christ. But we did not stop long to re- 
pine or mourn over that which was lost. A pri- 
vate schoolroom was rented on Tenth Street, be- 
tween W^oodland and Russell Streets, about five 
blocks from the house we had left, and we began 
work in earnest. In this little band all were one — 
no one trying to force in any sort of inventions or 
innovations. We read the word of God and prac- 
ticed as it required ; we sung and prayed together, 



300 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

took the Lord's Supper together, and were a happy 
little congregation. 

In spite of all the opposition we had to encounter, 
we had a healthy growth from the start — at first, 
from brethren and sisters who moved near to us, 
and, later, from the world. All of us richly en- 
joyed the new work from its very foundation. We 
now have a substantial and comfortable house of 
worship on Tenth and Russell Streets, and have 
it well and comfortably filled regularly on Lord's- 
day mornings. We are doing an encouraging 
amount of missionary, or evangelistic, work, and 
are living in peace and harmony. 

Some two years ago A. I. Myhr and the State 
society pitched a tent on the same block that Tenth 
Street Church is on, with James Small, a noted 
broad-gauge evangelist, for over a month. We 
went right on with our regular Lord's-day service 
and prayer meetings as usual while the tent meet- 
ing lasted, and are still regular in the work. This 
was a strange place to go to find the destitute, with 
a dozen churches of one name or another within 
bugle sound of their tent. Yet Myhr says their 
" purpose was, and is," to preach the gospel in des- 
titute places. Why they should thus put their tent 
almost at the door of the Tenth Street Church and 
near a dozen other churches, including Woodland 
Street and Seventeenth Street Churches, within five 
or six blocks of their tent, is for them to harmonize 
with the published purpose of their society. 

But we are satisfied that the trials we had in 
Woodland Street Church differ but little from 
things that have taken place in many dozens of 
other congregations, and that other similar ones 



Woodland Street Church, Again. 301 

will yet take place in many others. None that are 
loyal to Christ and the teaching of the New Tes- 
tament can afford to run with, or in any way be 
parties to, things in the work or worship of the 
church not authorized in the word of God. 

We do not propose to impugn the motives or 
purposes of those who did the divisive work in 
Woodland Street Church ; that is their responsibil- 
ity. We know humanity is weak, and that it is 
easy for people to persuade themselves that a thing 
they really want to do is right. We leave that for 
them to settle with the great Judge of all the earth. 
But we cannot condone error as though it were 
truth, nor can we in any sense recognize human in- 
ventions as equal to God's expressed appointments, 
nor can we ever consent to regard anything right in 
the work or worship of the church that God has 
not plainly expressed in his word. We think there 
is nothing more displeasing to God than to add to 
or take from his word, or in any way to change or 
meddle with his divine appointments ; and we never 
expect to cease to oppose such things. 

The apostle Paul strongly reproved the church at 
Corinth because they condoned, allowed, fornica- 
tion to go on in the church unrebuked. One of the 
members had taken his father's wife, and they had 
allowed him to go on in the church as though noth- 
ing were wrong. Paul not only rebuked them, but 
commanded them to deliver that man to Satan for 
the destruction of the flesh, and said : " Purge out 
the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, even 
as ye are unleavened." (1 Cor. 5: 7.) The influ- 
ence of the man guilty. of fornication was working 
like leaven in meal, was gradually corrupting the 



302 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

church, and they were all becoming guilty before 
God for allowing it to go on unrebuked. For a 
church to condone such a thing makes them respon- 
sible before God for the wrong. Those in the church 
were losing their standing before God every day by 
allowing such an evil to exist among them. Hence, 
to purge out the old leaven was to withdraw from 
that wicked man, that they might thus free them- 
selves from encouraging such corruption. They 
could not stand and worship as a pure church while 
allowing such, corruption in their midst. To keep 
the passover, all leaven had to be put away from 
the homes of the Jews, and they were to eat only 
unleavened bread during that feast. The apostle 
alludes to that custom in this passage, and gives 
them to understand they must get rid of that great 
evil in the church, that it might thus be purified in 
the sight of the Lord. 

He says in the next verse : " Wherefore let us 
keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the 
leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the un- 
leavened bread of sincerity and truth." This means 
that they could not remain a pure congregation and 
allow such evil conduct to go on among them. No 
church to-day, therefore, can allow any sort of sin 
or violation of God's revealed order of things, and 
not themselves become guilty before God. If only 
a few loyal members are in a congregation where a 
large majority force things of human wisdom into 
the church, and the loyal ones cannot prevent it, 
they can easily withdraw from such a congregation 
and meet together at their own homes, or some- 
where else, and worship God in spirit and in truth, 



Woodland Street Church, Again. 303 

and thus start a new congregation that will be loyal 
to Christ ; and it is certainly their duty to do so. 

The few cannot afford to remain in rebellion 
against God because the masses do. When the 
apostle had written the above and other things to 
the Corinthians, they waked up, and quickly put 
away the evil, and showed themselves a willing 
people, ready to do the Lord's will. But if a ma- 
jority of them had refused to put away the evil, it 
would have been the duty of all that were loyal to 
remonstrate earnestly with the majority, to induce 
them, if possible, to do the Lord's will as expressed 
to them. If they had utterly refused to do so, then 
the loyal minority could not have remained loyal 
had they continued to stay with them. They them- 
selves would have become corrupt, and the whole 
lump a corrupt mass, and the whole body would 
have been rejected together. , At Corinth the whole 
church put away the evil, and were commended for 
their subjugation to God's will. But in Woodland 
Street Church the majority determined to hold with 
the innovation, and could not be induced to give it 
up. The loyal ones, therefore, to remain loyal, were 
compelled to withdraw from the evil doers. 

When John, in Revelation, wrote to the church at 
Ephesus by the command of Christ, that church was 
not wholly evil ; but there were sins among them, 
in that they had left their " first love." The whole 
church was responsible for the wrongs. If all were 
not actually engaged in the errors, they were not 
protesting against them nor trying to have the er- 
rors put down, as is plain from the context. Hence, 
John was directed to tell them to " repent and do 
the first works ; or else I come to thee, and will move 



304 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

thy candlestick out of its place, except thou re- 
pent." (Rev. 2: 5.) This shows that the whole 
church was responsible for existing evils, and that 
if they did not bring about a reformation, the down- 
fall of that church was a certainty. The candle- 
stick represented the church, and its removal rep- 
resents the removal of the church at Ephesus. 

The thing charged against them, that they had 
left their " first love," showed that the love they had 
at first, which led them to do God's will, was dying 
out, and they were beginning to follow human wis- 
dom, or were failing in their service to God through 
lack of interest. But the passage rather indicates 
that they had begun to introduce untaught opin- 
ions, which always leads to the neglect of the will 
of God. At any rate, without getting back to the 
principles of obedience to God, the church at Ephe- 
sus was doomed; and history indicates that just 
that fate did come upon them, as the whole city of 
Ephesus went into ruin many centuries ago. So 
there is no safety for any of the Lord's people but 
to follow implicitly the word of God ; and if at any 
time or place a majority would compel us to fol- 
low the wisdom of men in any part of God's serv- 
ice, it is our duty to step out from among them, 
that we partake not of their sins and receive not of 
their plagues. 



My Early Life and Education. 305 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



My Early Life and Education. 



I was born and reared in Overton County, Tenn., 
on the waters of Wolf River, within one mile of the 
Kentucky line, seven miles from Albany, the county 
seat of Clinton County, Ky., and twenty-one miles 
from Livingston, the county seat of Overton 
County. My father owned a pretty good farm, with 
bottom lands for cultivation and hill lands for tim- 
ber, such as was needed to keep up the farm. 
Stephen and Annie Sewell were my father and 
mother. My father was born in North Carolina ; 
but when he was about twelve years old, the fam- 
ily moved into Carter County, in East Tennessee, 
the county in which my mother was born and 
reared. 

As they grew up they became acquainted, and 
this acquaintance ripened into love and marriage. 
After marriage they started toward the West, and, 
after a few stops, finally located for life on the 
above-named farm. 

There were eight boys and six girls born into the 
family. One boy died in infancy, and one girl died 
in early youth. I never saw either one of these, 
as I was the youngest boy and next to the young- 
est child. The sister that died early was the oldest 
of the family. The other twelve all lived to be 
grown — seven boys and five girls. They have all 
20 



306 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

gone over the river now, except myself and next 
older brother, C. W. Sewell. He and the little one 
that died were twins, and were named Caleb and 
Joshua. All the boys, save one, had Bible names. 
Four of the number became preachers, and another 
was for }^ears an elder in the church, and often a 
leader in the public worship of the congregation 
where he lived. We were all brought up to work 
on the farm, and not one of the boys ever tried to 
learn any other occupation, except school-teaching 
and preaching. We were all contented to work on 
the farm, and were a contented and happy family. 
As fast as the boys grew up to be large enough to 
use a hoe and handle a plow and drive a gentle 
horse they were put to regular work, and stuck to 
it till they were grown. 

Our opportunities to obtain an education were 
very limited. There were no high schools of any 
sort in that section of country, and no scholars of 
sufficient advancement to have taught such a school. 
There was generally a free school in every district 
for about three months in the summer and early 
fall, and sometimes that period was half cut off for 
lack of public funds ; and whenever the money gave 
out, the school closed, as they rarely ever thought 
of raising money to fill out the time or to extend 
into longer schools. In these schools English 
grammar was unknown in my early school days, 
and arithmetic was not required to be taught more 
than halfway through, and that but imperfectly. 
Hence, I got my start in English grammar at home, 
by studying it at night, in cold and bad weather 
in winter and rainy days and odd spells in summer, 
as one or two of the older children had gone from 



My Early Life and Education. 307 

home and had learned enough about it to teach me. 
In this wa}^ I went through Kirkham's Grammar, 
which, by the wa) r , was a very good grammar in 
those days. 

When nearly twenty-one, I hired a boy to work 
on the farm in my place to fill out my time till 
twenty-one, and I went off to school to an older 
brother and studied Brown's English Grammar and 
arithmetic — first under one brother till his school 
closed, and then under another brother at another 
place, making some five or six months. After this, 
it was no trouble for me to get a position as teacher 
in the common schools. Then I would work on the 
farm till time to open school in summer, and go to 
teaching school for the rest of the summer and fall. 

This course was continued till I was twenty-three 
years of age, when, on November 22, 1853, it. was 
my good fortune to be united in marriage to Lucy, 
daughter of Matthew and Henrietta Kuykendall, 
about five miles north of Cookeville, Tenn. I had 
just closed one term of school in Southeastern Ken- 
tucky when we were married, and taught another 
term at the same place during the winter and spring 
following. Then we moved to the home of Brother 
and Sister Kuykendall, my wife's father and mother. 
I went to plowing again, and helped to make one 
crop, then I was called away from the plow handles 
into the schoolroom again, where I taught two 
terms more. In the ^meanwhile I had contracted 
for a little piece of land, hired a man to cut and 
hew a set of house logs and to build us a house, 
that we might go to housekeeping in our own home. 

But while these things were going on it was my 
lot to associate considerably with a cousin of my 



308 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

wife, who had just graduated at Burritt College 
and was then teaching in the neighborhood where 
we were living. We talked educational matters 
over and over, till, as a result of that (and in my ex- 
perience in teaching I had already felt the need of 
more education, and especially so in the matter of 
preaching, which I expected to continue through 
life), I became more anxious for a good education 
than I had ever been before. But how to accom- 
plish it was the question. I did not have the means, 
and could not accomplish it without assistance. My 
father-in-law, I knew, was able to assist me ; but I 
doubted whether, under the circumstances, he would 
favor such an effort or not, as he had but a limited 
education and was deeply interested in farming, 
and was making a decided success of it, and I hesi- 
tated for a time to say anything to him about it. 

When I ventured to talk to him about the mat- 
ter of a more extended education and the advan- 
tages I thought it would be to my future usefulness, 
to my joyful surprise and great gratification, he 
heartily assented, and that without a moment's hes- 
itation, and said he thought it could be accom- 
plished, and said he would give some assistance in 
the venture. This was one of the pleasantest sur- 
prises I had ever met, one for which I never expect 
to cease to be thankful. I knew he was not just 
at that time in condition to aid me in the way of 
money; but he always had on hand a great abun- 
dance of provisions, "and he could always assist me 
in the way of meat and flour and such like, and I 
felt perfectly sure he would do so, which he did 
bountifully. Upon this assurance I at once changed 
the entire programme of my future life. So, by 



My Early Life and Education. 309 

agreement, my land contract with him was can- 
celed, and he purchased my house material and as- 
sisted us in other ways to get ready for an under- 
taking that seemed to us just starting out in life — 
a very considerable and important one. 

So, with a glad and thankful heart, I went to 
work to make the necessary arrangements for the 
accomplishment of the end, feeling assured that it 
would certainly add much to my ability to do good, 
especially in the matter of proclaiming the gospel 
of Christ to a perishing "world. I greatly desired 
to be able to read and study the New Testament in 
the language in which it was originally written, that 
I might in greater confidence present the truth in 
the whole matter of Christianity. The fall term 
of Burritt College was then approaching its close 
for the year 1855. So, in company with Brother 
G. A. Kuykendall, who had greatly encouraged my 
going there to school, I went to attend the closing- 
exercises, to consult with Brother W. D. Carnes, 
president of that school, and to see what arrange- 
mens could be secured for housekeeping there for 
my family. Brother Carnes encouraged me much 
in the undertaking. The closing exercises were 
very interesting and encouraging to me, as that was 
the first time I had ever been inside of college walls. 

A house was rented and every arrangement was 
made for entering college at the beginning of the 
first term of 1856, which opened in the month of 
February. Brother Kuykendall sent wagons and 
teams to move us to Spencer, and sent provisions 
to last us for quite a while. We greatly appre- 
ciated the help and encouragement thus afforded us. 
These items may seem small in themselves, but, as 



310 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

links in the chain of life, they are exceedingly impor- 
tant, all aiding in bringing about the much-desired 
end. 

It required a good supply of faith on my part to 
shoulder and go through with such an undertaking. 
All told, I did not have anything like enough in 
the way of money resources to carry me through 
the college course I wanted to take, and could not 
tell where the rest was to come from ; and, besides, 
our wants as to family expenses were increasing, 
everything I had gradually going out and nothing 
coming in. The prospect seemed a little gloomy, 
as every one that thinks of such a situation can 
easily see. But my faith was strong. I believed 
then, and still believe, that when a Christian starts 
out with an effort that is in harmony with the will 
of God, and will pursue the undertaking according 
to the word of God, there will be a way for reason- 
able success. I was strong in the assurance that my 
desire for more preparation to do greater good was 
a laudable one, and believed the Lord in his provi- 
dence would help me if I proved faithful. 

Thus the work was entered upon with earnest- 
ness and with strong confidence that good would 
result from it. But pulling through a course of 
Greek, Latin, and mathematics is no small matter, 
and often I felt as if it might be better to be out 
at work, rather than be shut up so long indoors, 
and apparently accomplishing so little. One or two 
others in the same school under similar circum- 
stances did pull loose and go out to work again. 
But the thought of abandoning what I * /as so sure 
was a good purpose over difficulties that I knew 
others had overcome, would afford new courage, and 



My Early Life and Education. 311 

the effort was continued. ' But no one need ever 
enter upon such an undertaking with the supposi- 
tion that there will be no troubles to encounter. Of 
course there will be imaginary troubles, but there 
will be real ones, and a man had better prepare for 
them, so that he may either overcome or endure 
them. 

Strong faith and conscientious convictions are al- 
ways needed in such undertakings, and a disposition 
to bear crosses and trials for the sake of accom- 
plishing good. The thought of running aground 
financially,- with a family on my hands and nothing 
to support them, was a serious one, and gave me 
much anxiety at times. It seemed likely enough for 
just such a thing to occur, when it was so plain 
we did not have anything like enough to carry us 
through, and not a cent of income, but a constant 
decrease of what we had. These things would not 
be mentioned but for the hope of encouraging oth- 
ers under similar circumstances to undertake and 
endure and go through with hardships, if need be, 
for the purpose of accomplishing good and of re- 
ceiving good ; for the man that does good al- 
ways receives benefits by helping others. And in 
these matters no man can afford to be purely self- 
ish ; he must be willing to go through trials for 
the sake of becoming able to do good, and thus ben- 
efit others. There is, indeed, great comfort and 
pleasure to be derived from the exercise of strong 
faith in God and in his precious promises, and in 
the sweet anticipation of accomplishing good after 
a while. The man that cannot afford to suffer some 
trials and hardships for the sake of helpfulness to 
others will never accomplish much in life. With 



312 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

endurance and perseverance we pressed on as the 
weary months and years moved on. 

On one occasion, after spending a vacation with 
my wife's people and returning for the work of an- 
other session, we were hindered by the way, and 
dark overtook us just about the time we got to the 
foot of the high mountain we had to ascend to 
reach Spencer. No one was near we could stop 
with till morning, and it was about two miles up 
that long mountain road. There was no use to stop 
to parley over the difficulty, so we pressed right on. 
By walking in front, I could direct and lead the way 
till we got to the most dangerous place on the 
road. Now it was so dark that neither of us could 
see the road. I knew r we were just at a piece of 
road dug out of the mountain side for perhaps a 
hundred yards, where, if the lower wheels should 
run off, the wagon would be certain to turn over, 
and perhaps tumble down a very steep descent for 
a hundred feet or more, with wife and babies all 
in the wagon together. Knowing the condition of 
the road, I took a stick in my hand, so I could tell 
when I was in the middle of the road, spread some- 
thing white over my shoulders that the driver could 
see, and kept talking to him and directing till we got 
past the danger and landed safe in Spencer. It 
was a serious and exciting drive, and one never to 
be forgotten. Nor should one ever cease to be 
thankful for a safe journey through such dangers. 
I almost shudder yet when I think of that dark 
night, that dangerous drive, with the lives of my 
whole family at stake ! Fifty years have come 
and gone, but the memory of that night remains. 
Through the mercies and watch care of Jehovah, all 



My Early Life and Education. 313 

our family that were in that drive still live ; but the 
driver on that occasion has long since passed over 
the river. 

This incident over, we were soon poring over 
Latin, Greek, mathematics, and other things, as 
though there had been no danger. While we have 
some dark and unpleasant scenes in life, there is 
much that is bright, pleasant, and enjoyable to the 
faithful Christian who loves, serves, and trusts a 
faithful Creator. . 

With the exception of very few things, however, 
I enjoyed that siege of hard study and close con- 
finement very much. All the time I was looking 
to the day when I expected to be able to take the 
field of labor with greatly increased ability to do 
good, and to be a greater blessing to wife and 
children, the church and 4 the world, than it would 
have been possible for me to become without the 
education. For three years" and a half the school- 
room was mainly my field, schoolbooks were my 
companions, and close, hard study was my employ- 
ment. But teachers were kind and helpful, school- 
mates were pleasant and companionable, there was a 
congregation of earnest Christians to meet and wor- 
ship with on the first day of every week, and prayer 
meeting every Wednesday night, and a Bible class 
of the whole school every Lord's-day morning, led 
by President Carnes, all of which was not only 
profitable to me in living the Christian life, but was 
exceedingly enjoyable. The school, also, was 
opened and cloced by reading the Scriptures and 
prayer every day. I had never had as constant re- 
ligious opportunities and privileges before. These 



314 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

were greatly enjoyed, and were certainly very ad- 
vantageous and profitable. 

From my own experience in securing an educa- 
tion, I have concluded there is no reason why any 
young man that wants an education should fail to 
secure it. Especially is this true of every young 
man who is a faithful Christian, imbued with an 
earnest desire to do good, who will go to work in 
strong faith, and will faithfully and trustingly work 
and pray along that line. God knows the heart, 
knows the purpose of one who desires to do good 
and to faithfully serve and honor him ; he will so use 
his life as to make him useful, and cause him to be 
a blessing to himself and others. Let no one, there- 
fore, despair, whose sole purpose is to honor God. 
On the other hand, from my observation and knowl- 
edge of human nature, when a boy is old enough 
to begin to choose and decide for himself, and does 
not really desire to study and prepare himself to 
do good, to be useful, all the help and effort be- 
stowed upon that boy to induce him to study and 
secure an education will be thrown away. There 
must be a burning desire in a boy to' do good, if 
there is ever much outcome in him. 

But when I had completed two years and a half 
with Brother Carnes in Burritt College, there came 
an unexpected turn in affairs that very much up- 
set my arrangements and calculations. I had my 
calculations all set to remain at old Burritt College 
to the end of my course. But as we approached the 
end of the two and a half years, Brother Carnes' res- 
idence was burned down and his household goods 
all consumed, and some of the family barely escaped 
with their night clothes. So he suffered a very 



My Early Life and Education. 315 

heavy loss. Brother Carries thought the fire was of 
incendiary origin, and that he had some sort of hid- 
den enemy that was trying to ruin him. He was 
so worried and disturbed over it that he decided to 
leave Burritt College, and accepted a high position 
in East Tennessee University, and made his ar- 
rangements to leave Burritt College at the close of 
that term. Then I did not know what to do next. 
The college fell into the hands of strangers to me, 
whom I did not wish to remain with, and I was thus 
totally at sea as to my future. So all of us went 
back to Brother Kuykendall's in blind uncertainty 
as to what* I would do about finishing my college 
course. 

We had not been back long, however, when I 
was informed that Brother T. Fanning and Brother 
William Lipscomb, of Franklin College, Tennes- 
see, had proposed to take twenty young men who 
had begun preaching, had shown ability to do good, 
and expected to make preaching their life work, 
and give them board and tuition free. This propo- 
sition was looked into, the information found to be 
correct, and was thankfully accepted, and arrange- 
ments were at once begun to go there the first 
of September following. But before I could go 
there was another serious trouble to settle. That 
was as to what arrangements to make about my 
family during the ten months I should be in school. 
A separation from my wife and children, sad as it 
was to me and them, seemed inevitable, if I still 
clung to the idea of finishing my much-ccveted col- 
lege course, and to give up this ambition seemed 
almost unbearably sad. But not being able to make 
any money arrangements by which to pay the nee- 



316 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

essary expenses of taking the family, something else 
had to be done. 

The prospect was gloomy. But just at the 
right time another providence favored. An un- 
married brother of my wife wanted to run a board- 
ing house at Bloomington Springs for a school soon 
to open there, but had no one to superintend it. So 
he offered my wife room and board for her and our 
three children to superintend the boarding house for 
him. This apparently moved the last serious diffi- 
culty out of the way. So she accepted the offer. 
Then it was for me to hustle around and make the 
remaining arrangements to go, or give up the ac- 
complishment of a very much coveted end. So, 
with sadness on the one hand and joyful anticipa- 
tions on the other, the arrangements were made. 
Some money was borrowed to buy a few more 
books, and everything was arranged as best we 
could, and the time was up for the sad parting and 
the trip to the place. This college was about six 
miles from Nashville, in a first-class community, 
and was known to be a first-class school. 

If I had learned more patience and all the time 
exercised more confidence in the promises of God — 
that his eyes are over the righteous, that his ears 
are open to their prayers, that all things work to- 
gether for good to them that love God — there would 
have been much less sorrow over the sad disappoint- 
ments. Thus it often occurs that out of sad disap- 
pointments our greatest blessings arise. So it 
turned out with me on this occasion. God's prom- 
ises mean just what they say; and if the Lord's peo- 
ple would fully trust him, they might' be saved from 
an immense amount of useless anxiety and trouble. 



My Early Life and Education. 317 

In looking back over my past life and the long 
chain of blessings that make up the precious oppor- 
tunities of my life, I feel ashamed that I did not 
have more thought and appreciation of them at the 
time, and that I was not more thankful and grateful 
for them when they came. God gives opportuni- 
ties, but it is man's business to utilize them and 
work all the good out of them that he is able. This 
much I realized, and tried to improve the precious 
opportunities granted to the best of my ability. 

Franklin College was entered on September 1, 
1858, and I was soon down to business in earnest. 
I was pleased from the very start with the school 
advantages and with the teachers. I had all the 
advantages I could utilize. I found the teachers 
well up on the text-books used and ready to give 
any advice or instruction needed ; so it was simply 
for me to put in faithful and hard study, so as to 
derive all the benefits possible from the advantages 
afforded. Schools can afford opportunities for 
study, but the students have to do the studying if 
any benefits result. I industriously filled the study 
hours of that session, with the understanding that, 
if my advancement was all right, I could graduate 
at the close of that ten-months' session. I was ad- 
mitted into the Senior Class, and worked with a 
will. While the work was arduous, I never spent 
a pleasanter session in any school than that session 
at Franklin College. 

We were all blessed with reasonably good health, 
and, by using the mails pretty freely, we got 
along fairly well. The time was put in to good 
advantage till the Christmas holidays were at the 
door; then books and Greek and Latin were laid 



318 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

aside, and I was off with sweet anticipation to see 
wife and babies. Joyful, indeed, was this brief re- 
union. Then back to hard study again. When 
about four months more of hard study had been 
completed, I had finished up the Latin and Greek 
course, and had made a pretty good start in He- 
brew. Then Brother Fanning said my course was 
so well finished up that there would be no trouble 
for me to graduate, that he would stand for me in 
the examination before the trustees, and that, if I 
preferred, I could go home to get up my graduating 
address and return for commencement. This was 
another joyful occasion for me, and no more time 
was wasted than to get ready for the next stage- 
coach in the direction of home. Another joyful 
meeting and pleasant stay of three or four weeks, 
and back again to the closing exercises and to re- 
ceive my diploma. 

These exercises were about the close o the first 
week of June, 1859. In the graduating class were 
five young men, including myself, and two young 
ladies. The young men were : J. S. Poyner, Robert 
E. Powell, Wallace Powell, E. G. Sewell, and G. M. 
Atkerson. The young ladies were Eleanor R. Hill 
and Sarah A. Harris. This ended my days oi go- 
ing to school. Those three and a half years of col- 
lege life have ever since been regarded by me as 
an exceedingly important part of my life work. 

While it is true the confinement seemed long, and 
the responsibility I had taken upon me was great, 
there has never been one moment of regret that it 
was undertaken and persevered in to the end. On 
the other hand, I have never ceased to be thankful 
that it could be done, was done ; thankful there was 



My Early Life and Education. 319 

a Burritt College and a Franklin College, and for 
all the aid so kindly afforded in and by these schools 
and their kind teachers, and for the health and 
strength with which I was blessed in laying this 
foundation for future usefulness. So far as I can 
now remember, I did not lose even a day from study 
by being sick. The good done by those two schools 
will never be fully known and estimated this side 
of eternity. But while good health continued with 
me in the main, my weight was reduced to one hun- 
dred and sixteen pounds from long confinement and 
hard study, and I was somewhat round-shouldered 
frorn stooping over books so long, and had a serious 
spell of illness in the fall of that year, after having 
held one or two laborious protracted meetings in 
close succession, the work being too much all at 
once after the long confinement at hard study. But 
gradually flesh and strength returned ; yet it was 
years before very full and vigorous health and vigor 
were regained. 

While the three years and a half of confinement 
seemed a long time to be penned up in college walls, 
almost entirely cut off from outside labor in the 
wide and open field, I have had already forty-nine 
years in which to use the benefit of the education 
obtained, and hope for a little more time yet to work. 
So I feel many times repaid Tor the labor, time, 
self-denial, and hardships incurred. I write these 
things that I may encourage other young men 
to attempt similar and greater things, as facilities 
for such undertakings are so much greater and op- 
portunities for their accomplishment so much more 
abundant than when I made the attempt. There 
is no reason why any young man of reasonable tal- 



320 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

ent should not accomplish much greater things, with 
the enlarged and greatly improved opportunities of 
this twentieth century. 

But I cannot afford to close this chapter without 
a word to the credit of my faithful companion and 
the great assistance she gave me in the accomplish- 
ment of the important work undertaken. She un- 
complainingly went with me to Spencer, and, with- 
out other assistance than I could give her, kept 
house and took care of the babies, and, as I some- 
times express it, " boarded me and sent me to Bur- 
ritt College for two years and a half." She cheer- 
fully made out with the plainest wardrobe for her- 
self and the children, making up the clothing for 
herself and them, and did it cheerfully and without 
complaint. Had she been disposed to try to follow 
society ways, and increased expenses as such a life 
would have demanded, it would have been impos- 
sible for me to have gone to college or to have done 
much of anything else but to have tied down to the 
best employment I could have found to pay the bills. 
She had been trained up to practical life, and took 
a practical view of things, and was, indeed, a help- 
meet to me through the whole struggle, and thus 
enabled me to go through with the undertaking. 
Hence, in a large measure, I owe my success to her 
self-denial and economical life. Also, the church 
and the world are largely indebted to her for what- 
ever good I have been able to accomplish during all 
these years. 

Nor would I fail to render due honor to the mem- 
ory of Brother W. D. Carnes, Brother T. Fanning, 
and Brother W. Lipscomb, for the substantial aid 
and the generous help and encouragement they gave 



My Early Life and Education. 321 

me while laying the foundation for greater useful- 
ness through Hie. Many others besides these, too 
numerous to undertake to name, gave much encour- 
agement all along the line. And especially do I 
desire to be truly thankful to the merciful Heavenly 
Father for the great blessings and the many pre- 
cious opportunities of all my past life, and for using 
me so much and so long in the grand work of saving 
souls- 



21 



322 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



Religious Teaching and Practice in My 
Younger Days. 



The only church in the neighborhood of my early 
youth was a Baptist Church, called the " United 
Baptists." They were different from the Mission- 
ary Baptists only in the matter of missionary soci- 
eties and missionary operations. They differed from 
the Primitive or " Hardshell Baptists/' as they were 
often called, on the doctrine of eternal decrees, of 
eternal election and reprobation. The association 
that the congregation of our neighborhood belonged 
to was called the " Stockton's Valley Association." 
There were twelve congregations, or churches, that 
belonged to this association. The association met 
once every year, with delegates from all the 
churches to report the condition of the churches 
and to represent their interests. These delegates 
would report the prosperity or adversity of the 
churches, and ask advice if they had any difficult 
matters among them they did not know how to 
manage. These associations did not propose to 
enact any laws, nor to formulate rules for the 
churches to go by, but to advise in cases where 
churches were in any wise infringing upon Bap- 
tist usages or were ignoring anything they thought 
important. The older and more influential heads 
would admonish, rebuke, or exhort churches they 



Religious Teaching and Practice. 323 

thought were getting out of the way; and if these 
proved incorrigible, they ran the risk of being 
dropped out of the association. 

When the writer was very young, some of the 
Baptists began to devise missionary societies and 
operations upon a money basis, and began what 
they called a " State Convention." The Stockton's 
Valley Association opposed this, and, in 1836, passed 
a resolution in the association declaring nonfellow- 
ship with the whole missionary business. This was 
known afterwards as the famous " Sixth Article " 
of their faith. This occasioned much discussion 
among the Baptists, which lasted for several years. 
In the association of 1842 it was proposed to re- 
scind this famous Sixth Article. Much discussion 
ensued, and finally the vote was taken, and the 
churches were equally divided, six voting to do 
away with the Sixth Article. After much discussion, 
the association divided, half the churches going to 
the missionary side and half against it, and with the 
latter half the famous Sixth Article remained. 

The general doctrines of both sides remained 
about the same. They all maintained the doctrine 
of hereditary total depravity — that, through the sin 
of Adam, the whole race of man became totally 
corrupt; that they could neither think nor perform 
a good act, and, therefore, were totally unable to 
understand and obey the word of God and thereby 
be saved; that conversion was impossible, except 
by a direct, abstract operation of the Holy Spirit. 
This supposed operation of the Spirit was counted 
essential to conversion, and this conversion was 
called " getting religion." Nothing short of this 
was called conversion among them. The idea of 



324 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

conversion through obedience to the gospel on the 
part of the sinner was sneered at as mere book 
religion, as salvation by works and not by grace, 
and as an effort on the part of the sinner to save 
himself by his own works. To obey the gospel and 
thereby be saved was regarded by the preachers 
and members as being as impossible as for the leop- 
ard to change his spots or the Ethiopian to change 
his skin. 

In their revival meetings, if they could not get 
the people excited and thoroughly under their in- 
fluence, and get them to believe the power that was 
moving them was the operation of the Holy Spirit 
upon them, striving with them to convert them from 
sin, they could accomplish nothing toward their 
conversion. They did not try to convert them by 
preaching the gospel to them and urging them to 
obey it; for they said the word of God was a dead 
letter, and no power was in it to convert and save 
the sinner. They taught two dead things, both 
the sinner and the word of God which reveals the 
gospel to man ; and of course one dead thing could 
not operate upon and save another that was equally 
dead. But when they could get the people excited 
by their pathetic and sympathetic preaching, and 
get them to think this excitement was the Spirit 
of God working upon their hearts to convert them, 
they could soon get up a rousing meeting; and as 
fast as they could get them to realize that they 
were in a lost condition, could not save themselves, 
and must give themselves entirely into the hands 
of the Lord and trust him to save them, the work 
of conversion, as they understood it, was soon ac- 
complished ; for they verily believed that the Holy 



Religious Teaching and Practice. 325 

Spirit, working abstractly on the hearts of sinners, 
convicted and converted them. 

When the meeting closed, they would appoint a 
day to " open the doors of the church for the recep- 
tion of members," at which time the converts were 
expected to " join the church," which they generally 
did in the following manner. The converts were re- 
quested to take a seat convenient, while a number 
of brethren would be present to judge of the con- 
verts one by one, as to whether their conversion 
was genuine or not. Then the preacher would ask 
the candidates, one by one, to relate their experience 
in their conversion in the presence of the church or 
session of members. If the experience was satis- 
factory, corresponded with the feelings the breth- 
ren had had in their conversion, they were voted 
as fit subjects for baptism and church membership. 
Baptism with them was simply the door into the 
visible church, as they had already entered the in- 
visible church by their supposed conversion by the 
Holy Spirit ; they were already saved and would 
be saved in heaven without baptism, but it was 
proper to be baptized and enter and live in the 
visible church. The evidence of their pardon was a 
matter of feelings, and must be the same sort of 
feelings the brethren had when they were converted. 
We visited many of these get-religion revival 
meetings in our boyhood days in the old neighbor- 
hood of home. In fact, we heard and saw little; 
else in the matter of conversion till twelve or fif~ 
teen years of age, and even then heard no other sort 
of preaching for some time. 

But incidents began from time to time to hap- 
pen that involved another side to things ; but I only 



326 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

heard them talked about, having no opportunity 
to hear another side of the matter of conversion 
preached. The first thing that made a ripple upon 
the surface of the Baptist Zion of that community 
occurred in my father's family. My father and 
mother were prominent members of the Baptist 
Church for many years, and much the larger part 
of their large family of children were members. My 
father was long a deacon of that church, and my 
mother prepared and carried the emblems for the 
Lord's Supper, which, among them, was only twice 
a year. My father's house was a regular home for 
the preachers, and in protracted meetings and their 
associations they took care of large numbers who 
attended from a distance. Brother William B. 
Sewell, an older brother, was clerk of the church at 
that place and a prominent member among them ; 
kept their articles of faith, kept the minutes of the 
business of the church and the record of names and 
such like, and was decidedly useful among them. 
But after a while he married a member of the church 
of Christ, went occasionally with his wife to her 
meetings, heard their preaching, read and investi- 
gated the Scriptures, and soon saw they were teach- 
ing and practicing as he read it in the New Testa- 
ment. He was impressed with their plain teaching 
and practice, saw it was just as the teaching and 
practice of New Testament times, and so he took 
the Lord's Supper with them. This fact was quickly 
reported to the church. He was cited to trial, 
charged with violating the rules of the church, and 
was speedily excluded, though pleading with them 
to try him by the word of God or by their articles 
of faith; that if they could show he had violated 



Religious Teaching and Practice. 327 

either one, he would retract. But it was of no use. 
He had violated Baptist rules of close communion, 
and that was enough, and out he went. 

This stirred up considerable discussion about his 
communing with schismatics, a little later called 
" Campbellites." But those things had not been 
preached in that neighborhood then, and but little 
was known of those people, anyway, as my brother 
was living out of the neighborhood where he com- 
mitted the offense. Even Brother Jesse L. Sewell, 
who was already reading and studying the Bible, 
but had not specially studied these points, told 
William he thought he had made a mistake. 
" Well," said William, " show it to me in the New 
Testament, and I will surely give it up." But he 
continued to study and investigate, and also had fre- 
quent discussions with William, which finally con- 
vinced Jesse that William and the people he was 
with were following the word of the Lord. So he 
began preaching the same things on conversion 
that the people were teaching with whom William 
had communed. Then he, also, was taken up and 
excluded under the charge of preaching the heresy 
of Alexander Campbell. 

This caused still more talk about the "new 
heresy," as it was called. As a matter of emphasis 
to these things, Jesse had pressed the church into^ 
changing the record they had made, that he was 
excluded for preaching heretical doctrine, into this : 
" Excluded for preaching faith, repentance, and 
baptism for the remission of sins." This was just 
such a record as was never made in that church 
before. But it did not stop with the exclusion of 
Jesse; Brother Isaac Sewell and two or three of 



328 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

our sisters at once had their names taken off. But 
my father and mother still remained among the 
Baptists, though all the time getting their eyes 
opened more and more to the plain teaching of the 
word of the Lord. Jesse, with others who stepped 
out when he was excluded, started a little congrega- 
tion in the same neighborhood, began meeting reg- 
ularly, taking the Lord's Supper regularly on the 
first day of the week, with frequent preaching also. 

My mother began to attend the meetings occasion- 
ally, heard the preaching, saw they taught and prac- 
ticed as taught in the word of God, took the Lord's 
Supper with them, and was herself excluded for vio- 
lating the rules of the Baptist Church — not for vio- 
lating the word of God; this was not the question 
at all. Then my father arose, almost too full to 
talk, and said : " Brethren, you have been excluding 
my family, one after another, not for violating the 
word of God, but by outside opinions and rules 
made by men. I cannot remain with you any 
longer. Take my name off." This was done, they 
being the last of the family out of that church, save 
my oldest living sister, who moved away abou f that 
time and was never with the family any more. So 
she remained a Baptist until death, dying at the 
ripe age of eighty-nine years. 

These things made quite a shaking up in the 
church, in the family, and in the community. My 
father and mother took membership with the little 
congregation of Christians in the neighborhood, and 
thus the members of the family that had been Bap- 
tists were happily united again simply as Chris- 
tians. Brother Caleb, my next older brother, 
obeyed the gospel and was with them, as did also 



Religious Teaching and Practice. 329 

Fatima, my youngest sister. Isaac and Caleb also 
began preaching, and the light of truth was growin^ 
and spreading round about. 

While these things were going on, and early in 
the nineteenth year of my life, I became decidedly 
interested in the matter of salvation, but up to that 
time had never studied the Bible very much. Three 
older brothers were preaching the gospel as they 
read it in the New Testament, and at the same time 
an uncle was preaching the Baptist theory of con- 
version, and it could be plainly seen there was a 
clash. My study of the Bible was not sufficient 
to justify me in saying one was right and the other 
wrong. I was not willing to accept anything till 
satisfied it was the teaching of the New Testament. 
Early in the spring of that year (1849) a careful 
reading and study of the New Testament began. 
The work was slow, as the busy season was on and 
the plow had to run. But little reading spells were 
utilized during rains, and all little odd times as 
they offered were used in that way. As the reading 
progressed, the desire to read more increased, and 
the plainer the gospel plan of salvation appeared, 
and the more plainly I could see whether the 
preaching done was according to the Book or not. 
The New Testament was read through that sum- 
mer and fall, much of it a second time, and Acts 
of Apostles the third time, by the latter part of 
October of that year. You may say that was slow 
reading; but, remember, the world was not running 
as fast then as now, and a boy that closely follows 
his plow through the busiest season of the year has 
not very many leisure hours. But, anyway, the 
reading was done, and the reader was happy, be- 



33° Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

cause he saw what the Lord required him to do, 
and was determined to do it. 

Early in the week before the fourth Lord's day, 
in October, Brother J. L. Sewell, who then lived out 
of the neighborhood, was at my father's, and was 
requested to be sure to be at the meeting on the 
next Lord's day, that I wanted to obey the Savior. 
He readily and gladly said that he would. Word 
was sent out in the neighborhood that he would 
be there, and on the fourth Lord's day in October, 
1849, I was buried with the Lord in baptism. This 
was a grand day and event to me. It was plain 
that, to become a Christian, one must believe the 
gospel, must repent and be baptized to reach the 
promise of remission of sins. These had now been 
done with deep earnestness and the promise of par- 
don received in full faith that I was a child of God, 
an heir of God, and a joint heir with Christ; and 
to this day I am perfectly satisfied that I did just 
what the Lord requires all sinners to do in order 
to be saved. If all would carefully learn what the 
word of the Lord requires, and do that, division on 
the matter of becoming Christians would soon cease. 
So, from my own reading, I was compelled to turn 
away from all the teaching of the early years of life. 
But when the truth so plainly dawned, that was 
enough. So I began at once to walk in it, and have 
been trying from that day to this to do just as the 
word of the Lord directs. 

As well as memory serves as to dates, a little more 
than a year after coming into Christ a new door 
was opened for work of a public character. When 
Isaac and Caleb had commenced preaching, they 
began holding family worship in the home every 



Religious Teaching and Practice. 331 

night. One of them would read a chapter after 
supper, the family would sing a song together, all 
would kneel down together, and one of the young 
preachers would lead in prayer. I never expect 
to forget those evening services of that family band. 
Those scripture readings, those songs and family 
devotions, hold a pleasant and precious place in the 
memories of the old home. But after a while those 
two preachers left home to teach school about the 
same time, and the sweet family devotions stopped 
short. But this did not last long, till my mother 
said : " We ought still to have family worship. 
True, Isaac and Caleb are gone, but we ought not 
to give it up." It was plain what this meant. My 
father had not undertaken that sort of service, and 
it was clear it was meant for me. I thought it over, 
and determined upon an effort on that line. That 
was the beginning of. any sort of public service by 
me. It was embarrassing at first and blunderingly 
done, but it was continued. This is one of the 
good things a Christian mother can do. Thanks to 
God for Christian mothers ! I never expect to 
cease to be thankful that I was blessed with such 
a one. How much of what I have done that is 
good and useful resulted from that mother's in- 
fluence, I shall never be able to tell. Tears of 
thankfulness still come into my eyes sometimes 
when I think of her godly life and her influence in 
the home, the church, and the community. 

The next step of public life I undertook was 
on this wise. Brother Isaac had an appointment 
to preach one night in the week at a neighbor's 
house, and was sick when the time came, and could 
not go. He asked me to go and tell the people 



33 2 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

why he was not there. I went, read a chapter, 
prayed, and dismissed the audience. The next 
step was to. accept an invitation to meet with a 
preacher at another neighbor's house on Saturday 
night and assist him, which I did, and talked a 
while. The next day I read a passage and talked 
a while at the meetinghouse with the same preacher. 
These efforts were not much, but they were a start 
toward preaching. These were opportunities, and 
were utilized, and that sort of work has never been 
given up since. The young should always be care- 
ful to use every opening to do good. Using these 
little opportunities develops and prepares for greater 
ones, and they are often the beginnings of grand and 
useful lives. 

These little events were in the latter part of the 
year 1851, two years after I became a Christian. 
One year after this I was ordained as a preacher, 
as it was then thought a man did not have the right 
to baptize people or officiate at the Lord's table till 
thus ordained, which was by fasting, prayer, and 
laying on of hands. I do not now understand 
that this was either necessary or scriptural. But 
we all thought then that it was essential, and, there- 
fore, it was done. Many people think so yet. 

From the above two efforts at preaching I soon 
had established the habit of preaching on Lord's 
days, and working on the farm or teaching school 
through the week for a living. The idea of com- 
pensation for preaching was not thought of then. 
The Baptists had taught from time immemorial that 
it was wrong to preach for money and wrong to 
pay preachers, and almost everybody accepted the 
idea and acted on it as a matter of course. So none 



Religious Teaching and Practice. 333 

in that country in those days undertook preaching 
as a means of making a living. Among our breth- 
ren they began purely from a desire to do good. 
Among the Baptists they began preaching because 
they thought the Lord had called them to preach, 
and that woe would be to them if they did not 
preach. So none of the preachers went into it from 
a money consideration. Some other consideration 
moved them to it. When I had been preaching for 
a time, I held a few days' meeting and baptized two 
or three persons ; the brethren gave me three dol- 
lars and a half, the first money that was ever of- 
fered me for preaching, and it was a great surprise. 
These items concerning my early teaching and 
surroundings, my reading and studying the word 
of God, my conversion by it, and the very radical 
change from all my former teaching and examples 
are written to show how thoroughly the word of 
God will take a man away from opinions, human 
wisdom, and devices of men in religion, and how 
easily it will bring about unity and harmony among 
all that will read and practice the word of God as 
it stands on record. It was simply reading and 
practicing the word of God that brought the Sewell 
family out of the errors under which they had been 
reared and taught, and planted them firmly upon 
the truth as recorded in the word of God. It was 
just that which turned loose four preachers, besides 
all the other earnest workers that were developed 
in and out of the family, a result brought about 
by the same causes. Four sons of J. L. Sewell also 
made preachers of the very same truths that 
brought the rest of us into it, and some of his grand- 
sons later. How many other workers, both in pub- 



334 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

lie and private, have been developed from the influ- 
ences started by these few persons reading, study- 
ing, and practicing the word of God as related in 
the cases above named, will not be known this side 
of the day of judgment. It shows people should 
never despise the day of small things. If these had 
not been firm and had not stood firmly on the 
word of God when they read it, they would have 
died in obscurity and been forgotten. Others might 
have risen and done the work, but the Sewells 
wou4d not have been known in it, save for their 
loyalty and faithfulness to the truth as they read 
and learned it. 

All should learn early to think for themselves 
in religion ; but they should read the word of God, 
decide what that teaches, and then stand by it, and 
allow nothing to take them from it. Too many do 
their thinking on human opinions and inventions 
of men, and decide which they prefer, and then 
stand by these till doomsday, without ever study- 
ing the word of God at all. They settle in their, 
minds that one church is as good as another, make 
their choice, and settle down that way, and all the 
world cannot move them. In this way divisions 
are made and perpetuated. 

If there is any one trait that distinguished the 
Sewell family more than any other, it was in going 
direct to the fountain head, the word of God, there 
to read, study, and learn what it says ; to accept that 
in full faith, stand by it, and live by it the rest of 
their lives. They studied the word of God till they 
could so use it as to make the book explain itself, 
could use it in its proper connection and division, 
and so place it before opponents that they had to 



Religious Teaching and Practice. 335 

fight the plain word of the Lord as he gave it. It 
is easy enough to fight and oppose opinions of men ; 
but when it comes to fighting against the sharp, 
two-edged sword of God's truth, it is a very differ- 
ent thing, and is a hard and dangerous battle. To 
undertake to offset one opinion by another is poor 
business, and no triumph can be made at it that is 
worth the making. 

The Sewells from the very outset read the word 
of God, and planted themselves firmly upon it, and 
no enemy could drive them from it. Men could 
vote majorities and exclude them from their 
churches, but they could not exclude them from 
God's holy word. They still had the Bible, and 
every time they opened it the very same words were 
there, meaning still the very same things. The same 
God and Father of all, the same Lord Jesus Christ, 
and the same Holy Spirit were there, teaching 
the same grand, eternal truths, and they could still 
be children of the same Father and the disciples of 
the same Lord, and still trust the great and pre- 
cious promises of that Book of all books. This was 
the one trait that made them successful in the con- 
flicts with error through which they had to pass. 
They relied upon the word of God ; they believed 
it, loved it, read it, and used it, and it was the power 
of God working through them, for they used that 
as their reliance and guide in fighting the Lord's 
battles. 

Human strength is but weakness when fortified 
only by human opinions; but the man that reads, 
practices, uses, and relies upon the word of truth, 
has the strong arms of Jehovah round about him, 
and in so doing is always safe. Let all young men 



33 6 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

that want to be useful be sure to read and study 
the Scriptures, and form their convictions and faith 
upon that, and keep clear of all human opinions, all 
fads and fancies of men, and not allow them any 
place in their work; never receive nor try to im- 
press them, but cleave alone to the word of God, 
live by it in their own lives, and faithfully and hon- 
estly teach it, and the Lord will use them to the 
full extent of their ability. But he that seeks for 
popularity among men, panders to popular opinions, 
will be weak in the sight of the Lord, no matter 
what his ability may be in human wisdom. Error 
may lead such, and may give them success along 
that line ; but the Lord will not be in their work, 
and at the last day he will say : " I never knew you/' 
In order to true success, a man wants to be in 
Christ, and Christ must be in his life. 

Abraham made himself the friend of God by do- 
ing what God said do, and God led him and blessed 
him and fulfilled all his promises to him, and we 
are to-day enjoying one of the richest promises ever 
made to mortal man, a promise made to Abraham 
and fulfilled in the gift of Christ Jesus our Lord. 
No grander work was ever done by any man than 
that done by the apostle Paul. God was with him, 
and blessed him and used him, because he earnestly 
loved and faithfully served the Lord in his life work 
after becoming a Christian. He expresses all in a 
few words when his life on earth was about to close. 
He said : " For I am already being offered, and the 
time of my departure is come. I have fought the 
good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept 
the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me the 
crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the right- 



Religious Teaching and Practice. 337 

eous judge, shall give to me at that day; and not 
to me only, but also to all them that have loved 
his appearing." (2 Tim. 4: 6-8.) This was a glo- 
rious ending to a godly and faithful life, and just 
such an ending as is possible to-day for every man 
that will live and serve God as Paul did. This 
ought to encourage all to give their hearts and lives 
to the service of God in such earnestness as to make 
sure of that crown of glory at last ; and all that will 
be as diligent and faithful as Paul was in the serv- 
ice of God will be blessed with the sort of outcome 
that blessed him, with the same eternal life to be 
enjoyed. 

The principal part of my life as a preacher and 
writer has been so prominently before the public 
that I do not 'think it needful to enter into details 
regarding it. I only wish to say that the Bible has 
been the companion and the standard book of my 
whole life work, and is still my guide in all mat- 
ters of service to God and in all matters of duty 
to my fellow-man. I have tried to make it the 
light of home and the guide in the treatment of 
my family and in the whole work of life. When 
dark shadows /have come, the precious promises of 
that book have been my support and comfort. When 
the world and its pleasures and treasures have 
strongly appealed to the fleshly man, I have used 
the plain and precious teaching of that book, above 
all other books, as my defense. If sensitiveness, 
selfishness, jealousy, or improper emulations have 
found too much prominence in my thoughts, that 
heavenly book in its divine teaching has been my 
reliance in putting them down. If, on the other 
22 



338 Gospel Lessons and Life History. 

hand, there have been seen in my life things that 
are pure, are lovely and beautiful ; if there has been 
in my life sterling usefulness, I want the credit of 
it all to be given to that glorious, God-given book. 
And as the shades of evening gather, and the weak- 
ness of age begins to make the physical man trem- 
ble, that sacred book, its heavenly light and its pre- 
cious promises, shall be my staff, my hope, my guide, 
till the pall of death shall bring the end, that angels 
may then take charge and waft my spirit home. 






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